Eye doctor appointment for my baby? Dilating eyes?!
Question: My MIL works for an eye surgeon. He knows she has a grandson and offered to do a thorough exam. I had a lazy eye as a young child and both myself and his father have had to wear glasses. I agreed to the appointment but she called yesterday and said she wanted me to know ahead of time that he will have to dilate my son's eyes to do the testing. It will sting and be bothersome for a couple of hours. Is this safe? Are there any risks? I will of course ask the surgeon but I can't until the day of the appointment so I'd like your input.
Answers: My MIL works for an eye surgeon. He knows she has a grandson and offered to do a thorough exam. I had a lazy eye as a young child and both myself and his father have had to wear glasses. I agreed to the appointment but she called yesterday and said she wanted me to know ahead of time that he will have to dilate my son's eyes to do the testing. It will sting and be bothersome for a couple of hours. Is this safe? Are there any risks? I will of course ask the surgeon but I can't until the day of the appointment so I'd like your input.
I won't spilt hairs with you; your son is going to SCREAM. But its safe and a necessary evil in order for the doctor to give your son a thorough exam.
If a dilated eye exam is not done, you are only guessing what is going on inside the eye. After a comprehensive medical eye examination by an ophthalmologist, you will be able to be told everything about the status of the child's eyes.
Dilating little guys is sort of a normal part of the exam. As these little ones can't 'cooperate' they'll dilate to make sure the retina is OK and to paralyze the accommodating muscles and do a refraction to see if he's nearsighted or farsighted or ?
The dilating drops HURT. BUT, if they put in procainamide first, it'll hurt a little bit, make the eyes numb. Then when they use the dilating drops, won't hurt at all.
After the refraction part, they'll look around at the retina and make sure there are no bad things back there. Most likely there won't be. I'm always surprise when I find something amiss.
Percentage wise, he'll do just fine....
dilating the eyes is so they can see inside the eye...it's not harmful but will be disturbing for awhile...some peoples eyes go back to normal very shortly....i would let them do it...it is just a complete exam...worked in eye clinic for 3 yrs.