Abstract
Background The progression of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes in the environment
for outpatient and inpatient care in ophthalmology, with limitations on access to
medical care but also new observations and challenges. We now describe major developments
in recent months and provide an outlook on the expected consequences.
Methods PubMed literature search, clinical survey.
Results To date, the course of the COVID-19 pandemic has been characterised by several new
but overall rare ocular manifestations, the ophthalmological shared management of
COVID-19 patients on intensive care units, and a significant decrease in case numbers,
associated with an increase in case severity and relative proportion of emergencies,
as a result of delayed presentation of patients and reduced treatment adherence. With
the introduction of hygiene measures and infection control procedures, ophthalmic
patient care was maintained – including emergencies and urgent treatments. Due to
the extensive postponement of elective surgeries, scarce therapeutic and health care
professional resources, and the prioritisation of critically ill patients from other
specialties, there is a reasonable likelihood that urgent treatments will be delayed
as infection rates rise.
Conclusion Outpatient and inpatient care in ophthalmology during the COVID-19 pandemic is primarily
accompanied by additional organisational or medical challenges and a decline in case
volume. Although to date emergency and urgent ophthalmic treatments have been maintained,
long-term persistence of pandemic conditions will require additional strategies to
provide continuation of ophthalmic care at the required level.
Key words
COVID-19 pandemic - ocular manifestation COVID-19 - hygiene measures - ophthalmic
emergencies - triage
