What is the difference between dilated refraction and regular refraction?

Mondo Health Updated on 2024-01-29

When we take our children to have their eyes checked, we often hear the word "dilated optometry", and parents often ask us the same question, what is the difference between it and ordinary optometry?

Today, we invite Zhang Guoliang, director of Xinzhou Aier Eye Hospital, to talk about dilated eye refraction in detail, dilated refraction is called cycloplegic refraction, its main function is to relax the ciliary muscle of our eyes, when the ciliary muscle is relaxed, the pupil will become larger, and all the adjustment force of our eye muscles will be eliminated.

A word we often hear is pseudomyopia, Director Zhang Guoliang said: When we dilate the pupils, pseudomyopia is eliminated, because pseudomyopia is about muscle adjustment spasm. Therefore, after the pupils are dilated, we can make the results of our examination more objective and true. The power of a child's eyes is an internationally recognized standard for diagnosing myopia.

What kind of children do we recommend dilated eye refraction? You can draw the key points, age less than 12 years old, optometry is recommended dilated refraction, because children at this age have strong adjustment power, especially prone to pseudomyopia, and there are children who wear glasses for the first time, if the child has never worn glasses before, parents want him to check whether it is true myopia, in this case it is also recommended to dilated pupil refraction. There are also children with high farsightedness, strabismus and even amblyopia and large astigmatism, so they must undergo dilated refraction. In this way, the results of the examination are more real and accurate.

In fact, dilated refraction itself does not cause damage to the eyes. However, because the pupil becomes larger after pupil dilation, the adjustment ability of the eye becomes relatively weak, and some children may have some adverse reactions. For example, you may have blurred vision of near objects, or you may have symptoms such as photophobia and tearing. However, these symptoms usually go away on their own after a few hours and do not cause permanent effects on the eyes.

What should parents pay attention to when performing dilated eye refraction for their children? First of all, it is necessary to choose a regular eye hospital or a professional ophthalmologist for dilated eye refraction. In addition, the child may experience some uncomfortable symptoms such as dizziness, headache, nausea, etc., which are usually normal and parents do not need to worry too much. However, if symptoms persist for a long time or if symptoms are severe, prompt medical attention should be sought promptly.

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