Is mydriasis harmful?

1. What is mydriasis optometry?

Cycloplegia optometry is a medical procedure that uses specific drugs to paralyze the ciliary muscles of the eyes, causing them to temporarily lose their regulatory function before performing optometry tests. Generally speaking, when people look into the distance, their eyes are completely relaxed, but when they look at close objects, their eyes need to activate regulatory function.

If a person looks at close objects for a long time, such as playing with mobile phones, watching TV, reading books, etc., the ciliary muscles of the eyes will be in a state of continuous traction and cannot relax. The eyes will continue to focus, leading to accommodative myopia, which is often heard of as "pseudomyopia". If you do an eye test under this circumstance, the eye test results will be distorted.

2. Why do we need to do mydriasis refraction?

For children and adolescents, the ciliary muscles of the eyes have stronger accommodation ability. The accommodation can make the lens convex and the refractive power stronger, which can easily lead to pseudomyopia with tight accommodation. Therefore, it is necessary to relax the accommodation by dilation of the pupil to obtain an accurate refractive degree and eliminate the influence of excessive accommodation on the eye examination results.

Mydriasis optometry is a measure taken when ordinary optometry cannot accurately obtain optometry results. Aier Eye Hospital reminds you that mydriasis optometry is a medical procedure that can only be performed in hospitals, so you must take your child to a professional ophthalmology medical institution for it.

3. Does everyone need to have mydriasis for eye examination?

Mydriatic optometry is a type of optometry for a specific group of people, mostly suitable for children and teenagers. In order to avoid errors in optometry caused by the eye's ability to adjust, mydriatic optometry is generally applicable to the following situations:

1. Children and adolescents

Children and adolescents who are undergoing an eye examination for the first time, who may have pseudomyopia, unstable vision, or esotropia.

2. Other groups

Patients with normal fundus and refractive media examinations but poor visual acuity and those with more complex refractive errors.

Professional ophthalmic medical institutions with a full range of ophthalmic experts including myopia prevention and control, pediatric strabismus and amblyopia, and fundus can provide more comprehensive protection for children's eye health.

4. Is mydriasis optometry harmful? Many parents are afraid of the word "mydriasis" because they do not understand the purpose of mydriasis optometry or are influenced by some exaggerated statements. In fact, mydriasis optometry only causes normal short-term stimulation, which can be restored after 6-8 hours and has no side effects.

5. What should parents pay attention to during the mydriasis period?

1. Avoid strong light stimulation. When taking children outdoors, you can block the light by wearing sunglasses and sun hats.

2. Before their vision recovers to normal, try not to let your child engage in activities that require close eye use, such as reading, watching TV, or playing with mobile phones.

3. Since close vision is blurry, parents should take good care of their children to avoid bumps and falls.