In a rare pandemic silver lining for some male doctors, researchers have found that women find men wearing surgical masks are more attractive than those not wearing a face covering.

And blue’s the best colour; the study found men wearing blue surgical masks were significantly more attractive than those wearing a cloth mask and those whose lower face was hidden by a notebook.

This new sex-appeal for masks is a complete U-turn from a pre-pandemic 2016 study, when medical masks reduced attractiveness because they were associated with disease or illness.

“We wanted to test whether this had changed since face coverings became ubiquitous and understand whether the type of mask had any effect,” said lead author Dr Michael Lewis (PhD) of Cardiff University’s School of Psychology in the UK.