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Updated: Oct 16, 2025
Effects of Surgical Masks on Cardiopulmonary Function in Healthy Subjects
Published on: February 12, 2021
Potential impact of oral flora dispersal on patients wearing face masks when undergoing ophthalmologic procedures
Santiago Angaramo1, Janice C Law1,2, Alexander Spyros Maris3
1Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Objective:
The purpose of this study is to investigate the amount of oral flora dispersion towards the ocular surface in relation to various face mask scenarios.
Methods And Analysis:
Thirty participants were recruited for this prospective cross-sectional study. Each participant was seated and instructed to hold a blood agar plate perpendicular to the bridge of their nose and facing downward. Participants then partook in three unique face mask scenarios: no face mask, surgical face mask and surgical face mask with tape securing the superior edge. During each scenario, participants were instructed to forcefully exhale for 5 s three times. The primary outcome measure was the number of colony-forming units (CFUs) grown on each face mask scenario-specific plate.
Results:
Thirty participants were recruited for the study, and a total of 90 chocolate agar plates were successfully incubated. The proportion of detecting any CFU was 6.67% (95% CI: 0.818% to 22.1%) for no mask scenario, 0% (95% CI: 0% to 11.6%) for mask scenario and 3.33% (95% CI: 0.0844% to 17.2%) for mask-taped scenario. The mean differences in proportion of detecting any CFU were 3.33% (95% CI: 0% to 10%, p=0.309) for no mask versus mask taped, 3.35% (95% CI: 0% to 10%, p=0.307) for mask taped versus mask and 6.68% (95% CI: 0% to 16.7%, p=0.142) for no mask versus mask.
Conclusion:
This study showed no difference in bacterial dispersion towards the ocular surface when comparing no face mask, a surgical face mask without tape or a surgical face mask with tape.
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