Do you know how mydriasis can harm your eyes?

In life, many people choose to dilate their pupils to adjust eye fatigue problems, but they ignore the fact that dilation can also cause a lot of harm. Mydriasis is suitable for children under 12 years old, patients with myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism aged 12 to 40 years old, and adolescents with normal fundus and refractive media examinations but poor vision and unstable vision.

1. Suitable range of mydriasis

(1) Children under 12 years of age. Because its regulatory effect is very strong, if the pupil is not dilated during eye examination, the error will be very large.

(2) For patients aged 12 to 40 with myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism, in principle, the pupil should be dilated during the first eye examination. During the second eye examination, if the degree does not change much, a small pupil eye examination can be performed based on the original degree and then the degree can be increased or decreased.

(3) The fundus and refractive media examinations are normal, but the visual acuity is poor. Mydriasis refraction is needed to rule out refractive error.

(4) More complex refractive errors, such as high myopia, high hyperopia or high astigmatism, or myopia or hyperopia combined with astigmatism.

(5) Teenagers have unstable vision, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. They are suspected of having pseudomyopia. Once the pupil of such patients is dilated, the accommodation effect disappears and the pseudomyopia is eliminated.

2. Hazards

The purpose of mydriasis is to relieve eye fatigue and relax tense muscles so that the refractive power tested will be more accurate. Mydriasis itself does not cause adverse effects to patients. However, there may be temporary photophobia and blurred vision of near objects after mydriasis (it will not affect distant vision and you can still live a normal life). The time to return to normal varies depending on the different mydriatic drugs. Tropicamide generally returns to normal within 4-6 hours, homatropine takes 3 days, and atropine takes about 2-3 weeks to recover on its own after mydriasis, and it is harmless to the eyes. Dilation of the pupil can put the eyes in a resting state and can also be used to prevent and treat myopia. However, care should be taken to block out strong light and reduce the intake of ultraviolet rays.