The Team at Bay Area Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus will do our very best to make sure your visit is as informative and efficient as possible.
The first part of the visit involves taking a history, checking vision, eye alignment and visual function. If dilation is required, there is a time period of 20-40 minutes after the dilation drops are placed that is spent in the waiting room and theater allowing the pupils to dilate. After dilation is completed the level of farsightedness, nearsightedness and/or astigmatism is determined and the external and internal structures of the eyes are examined. Further measurements or testing may also take place.
Most patients not having a dilated examination can expect to complete their visit in under an hour. If dilation is required the visit can take 90 minutes or more. That being said, we can never predict the complexity of patients we will see on a given day and this can occasionally result in slowing down of patient flow. Our providers and the team must give each and every patient the time, care and expertise their individual circumstance requires.
The providers and team at Bay Area Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus understand that NO child wants drops in their eyes. Dilation of the pupils (black circle in the center of the colored part of the eye) is an essential part of the examination.
Not dilating a child’s eyes during a comprehensive exam may prevent the doctors and the team from performing the necessary steps to identify and treat certain eye disease. Dilation of the pupils in some cases allows for unseen vision-threatening and even life-threatening conditions to be brought to light.
Dilation is performed by placing one or more drops in the eyes. These drops relax the muscle that makes the pupil get smaller in response to light and helps the eye focus, especially up close. Dilation allows us to examine the internal structures of the eyes in detail and properly prescribe glasses in pediatric patients. Children have a large amount of focusing power in the lens of the their eye, if the focusing of the lens is not completely relaxed with drops, it may be difficult or impossible to accurately prescribe glasses for them. The process of dilation can take 20-40 minutes after the drops are placed.
Children have much stronger focusing ability than adults and, as a result, a longer acting drop is required for children. We expect the drops to wear off in 8-12 hours but they can last up to three days in rare cases. Lighter colored eyes tend to stay dilated longer. Despite some blurring of near vision and sensitivity to light, most children can function quite well with dilated pupils
Children can go to school dilated but may have trouble seeing the board and especially seeing up close. We will provide your child with tinted glasses to block the bright light of the sun after dilation. We recommend that children NOT participate in activities that could result in injury due to glare and blur from dilation. Some of these activities include: softball, baseball, gymnastics and racket sports. We strongly advise young drivers not to drive until the dilation has worn off.
