How Does Wearing a Facecover Influence the Eye Movement Pattern in Times of COVID-19?

Frank, Konstantin; Schuster, Luca; Alfertshofer, Michael; Baumbach, Sebastian Felix; Herterich, Viktoria; Giunta, Riccardo E.; Möllhoff, Nicholas; Braig, David; Ehrl, Denis und Cotofana, Sebastian (2021): How Does Wearing a Facecover Influence the Eye Movement Pattern in Times of COVID-19? In: Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Bd. 41, Nr. 8: NP1118-NP1124

Abstract

Background: Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic facecovers have become a common sight. The effect of facecovers on the gaze when looking at faces has not yet been assessed. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate any potential differences in eye movement pattern in observers exposed to images showing a face without and with a facecover to identify if there is truly a change of gaze when identifying (masked) facial features. Methods: The eye movement of 64 study participants (28 males and 36 females) with a mean [standard deviation] age of 31.84 [9.0] years was analyzed in this cross-sectional observational study. Eye movement analysis was conducted based on positional changes of eye features within an x- and y-coordinate system while two images (face without/with facecover) were displayed for 8 seconds. Results: The results of this study revealed that the sequence of focusing on facial regions was not altered when wearing a facecover and followed the sequence: perioral, nose, periorbital. Wearing a facecover significantly increased the time spent focusing on the periorbital region and also increased the number of repeated eye fixations during the 8-second visual stimulus presentation. No statistically significant differences were observed between male and female participants in their eye movement pattern across all investigated variables (P>0.433). Conclusions: The altered eye movement pattern caused by wearing facecoverings that this study has revealed suggests that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, aesthetic practitioners might consider developing marketing and treatment strategies that principally target the periorbital area.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Medizin
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• ISSN: 1090-820X
• Sprache: Englisch