Managing the Side Effects of Eye Dilation If you have contact lenses, you may not be able to wear them until the drops wear off. Because your pupils are wide open, you will likely be more sensitive to light, have blurry vision, and may have trouble focusing on close objects. What are the Side Effects of Eye Dilation?Īlthough eye dilation is harmless, it does come with some short-term side effects that you should know ahead of time. Your optometrist or ophthalmologist will then use a magnifying lens to examine your retina, optic nerve, and blood vessels at the back of your eye. Normally, your pupil narrows when exposed to light, but, for this exam, the doctor needs the pupil to remain wide open (dilated) when they shine a light into your eye. Once the drops are applied, you’ll typically have to wait 20 to 30 minutes before your eyes are fully dilated. To dilate your eyes, your eye doctor will use dilating eye drops to widen the pupil so they can look inside your eye. Dilation can help your doctor diagnose any issues early and take steps to help protect your vision. Don’t be! It’s totally harmless and gives your eye doctor a better look at the back of your eyes to help spot any signs of common eye conditions like glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, or other problems with the retina. Neither formulation appears to affect systemic blood pressure or heart rate.Getting your eyes dilated is an important part of any eye exam, but if you haven’t had it done before, you may be a little nervous about it. No other significant changes from baseline in the above parameters were found between HTN and non-HTN groups.ĭilating eye drops containing T+P exert a stronger mydriatic effect than T alone, especially in hypertensive patients undergoing antihypertensive therapy. HTN patients’ pupils dilated to a greater extent in response to T+P (+4.09☐.98mm) than T alone (+3.35mm☐.98mm) (p=0.03). Changes from baseline in MAP, systolic BP, diastolic BP, heart rate, and pupil size were compared between HTN and non-HTN groups. 93.7% of patients with HTN were on antihypertensive medications at the time of visit.
Next, patients were divided into those diagnosed with hypertension (HTN) and those without history of HTN (non-HTN). This is attributable only to treatment effect, since baseline pupil sizes did not differ between T and T+P groups (p=0.9), yet pupil sizes 30 minutes after drop instillation were greater for T+P (6.91mm☑.19mm) than for T alone (6.33mm☐.93mm) (p=0.009). Those receiving T+P exhibited greater pupillary dilatation than T alone, (3.67 mm vs. Overall, average BP did not change from baseline mean arterial pressure (MAP) before dilation was 96.62☑3.3mmHg and 96.8☑2.67mmHg after dilation (p =0.8). For the first analysis, patients were divided into two groups based on the dilating agent they received: T, or T+P.
Mean age was 52.89☑5.15 (mean±SD) years, 59.6% of patients were females, 18.3% Caucasian, 43.3% African American, 25%% Hispanic, 3.8% Asian. Direct patient questioning and chart review were used to gather medication and medical history data.ġ04 patients were included. A second reading was obtained 30 minutes after drops were given. Immediately prior to instillation of drops, an automated cuff obtained baseline BP and pupil size was measured by slit lamp exam. In this prospective randomized study, patients received a single dose of either T or T+P. The formulations examined, tropicamide 1% (T) and tropicamide 1% & phenylephrine 2.5% (T+P), are used in eye care settings the world over yet their systemic effects are not well documented. To investigate the effect of common dilating eye drops used for eye examination on systemic blood pressure (BP) in adults, and how this may interact with history of hypertension and associated medication use.