the more and more people that get coven 19 the more i get the question hey are my
red eyes because of the coronavirus that's today's video let's focus in
hey howdy everybody this is dr neal guymon dr eye guy with the show that keeps your eyes the
healthiest and your vision the clearest and i do videos that talk all about the eyes videos about
eye products i give reviews and educational videos so make sure you subscribe if that's something
that you're interested in otherwise let's talk about the coronavirus and the eyes nowadays more
and more people have had coven 19 you may have had it your friends or family may have
had it i actually had it and so i'm getting the question a lot more these days if their red eyes
are linked to coven 19. so let's talk about it so quick summary of covid 19 covid 19 is the disease
from sars cov2 sars cov2 is actually the virus the virus that causes the disease covid19 similar way
that hiv is the virus and it causes aids the disease sars cov2 is the virus covid 19 is the
disease from what we know now we know the virus can be carried by large droplets that's why when
you cough or you sneeze you can air saliva it's kind of like you're blowing febreeze out of your
mouth into the air and those large droplets will carry the virus and that large droplet may land on
someone else someone else's mucous membranes and that's how they can contract the virus
now you can actually get the virus from the large droplets of water if they land on the
mucous membranes of your nose or your eye this is why you're seeing all those mask mandates so
people will cover their mouth so just in case if they cough or sneeze or if they're spit talkers
they won't plop out those large droplets that may have the virus on there so it can limit the spread
you'll also hear word or maybe recommendations from the cdc that people may need to wear
goggles to limit the spread that's just to protect your eyes from those droplets that may land on the
mucous membrane of the eye and then you can get the virus from that now the most recent study that
i've seen where they've pulled the data pooled studies of how many people they've had cobia 19
actually had ocular manifestations or eye problems from coven 19. out of all the people that they've
collected they found that only seven percent of the people that had coven 19 actually had
eye problems and the most common eye problem that these patients had
was a conjunctivitis also known as pink eye now the white part of the eye is actually covered by
this thin protective layer called the conjunctiva and this layer is see-through it's almost like
a little thin layer of skin that covers your eyeball as an extra protective layer and that's
the area of the eye that actually can be read and inflamed from certain types of infections
pink eye or conjunctivitis can be caused by different things allergies bacterial and
viruses the viral form of pink eye is usually the one that's the most contagious
you might have a kid that might have pink eye and they might spread it to another family member
or to friends or someone in their class that's a viral pink eye that's usually a different virus
that we're dealing with though that's usually a virus called the adenovirus that tends to
be the virus that may cause a pink eye usually covid19 will just cause a conjunctivitis or a
red inflamed conjunctiva and it will usually stop there now what's interesting about
this virus sars coV 2 is that it's actually found in the tears the virus actually sheds in the
tears of the eye also similar with hiv it's also been found in the tears of people's eyes which
obviously makes people concerned because if you have that virus within the tears and you go to
wipe your eye and then you know touch someone else and they get that mucus or that tear and it gets
on their mucous membranes it can potentially be contagious that way now there hasn't been any
foolproof documented cases of tear transmission of the virus luckily now there are other viruses
that can cause more serious eye conditions even blindness one of those is the herpes simplex virus
actually made a video about that if you're kind of curious to learn about that i'll put a link
right up here and you can check that out so just to summarize from what we know those people that
have had coven 19 only seven percent of those people actually have had a eye problem usually
a conjunctivitis and out of those people only one percent actually had the virus within their
tears so the answer to the question is yes your red eyes could be from covid 19 but it's unlikely
and also on top of that there is a chance that you could spread or get the disease from tears
but also unlikely now sars stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome because it mainly affects the
lungs now on the cdc website they have symptoms listed there conjunctivitis or red eyes isn't on
the main symptoms because it's so low on the list usually people that have covid 19 will have main
symptoms like fever loss of breath cough someone that's gonna affect the lungs those are the main
symptoms now you could have a conjunctivitis that is in conjunction with your other symptoms as well
likely that's not going to be the only symptom that you will have now the good news is this type
of conjunctivitis will usually resolve on its own similar to covid 19 similar to viruses they kind
of have to run their course it could take anywhere from five i think i've seen studies to 20 days
five to 20 days that you might be suffering from these red eyes or a conjunctivitis now this is the
most up-to-date information that i have right now if the information changes or there's an update
to the information i'll make a new video and if i have a new video i'll put it right up here in the
in the corner a link if there's nothing up there that means this is the most up-to-date video you
have the guidelines if you have a conjunctivitis are the same if you have the other symptoms of
covid 19. you want to quarantine you want to be washed in your hands you want to not be touching
your eyes and mouth and nose and then going making out with your girlfriend or something like that
just uh be safe be careful be clean hey thanks for watching everybody make sure
you check out my other videos and be safe out there be good to each other and stay focused
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