Authors: by Study Finds

Long COVID” continues to confound doctors as patients still struggle with debilitating symptoms months after first being infection. A new study now suggests that COVID patients who could be long-haulers could be diagnosed by taking a close look at their eyes. Nerve fiber loss and an increase in key immune cells on the surface of the eye may be a way of identifying the long term impact of the virus, say scientists.

The changes are particularly evident among those with neurological symptoms, such as loss of taste and smell, headache, dizziness, numbness, and neuropathic pain. Doctors at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar say long COVID is characterized by a range of symptoms which continue for more than four weeks after the acute phase of the infection has passed, and which aren’t explained by an alternative diagnosis.

Around one in 10 people infected by the virus will become COVID long-haulers. It has been suggested that small nerve fiber damage may underlie its development.

To explore the theory, researchers used a real-time, non-invasive, high-resolution imaging laser technique, called corneal confocal microscopy — or CCM — to pick up nerve damage in the cornea. The cornea is the transparent part of the eye that covers the pupil, iris, and the fluid-filled interior. Its main function is to focus most of the light entering the eye.

CCM has been used to identify nerve damage and inflammatory changes attributable to diabetic neuropathy, multiple sclerosis, and fibromyalgia..

For More Information: https://www.studyfinds.org/eye-scan-determines-long-covid/