Dilating Eye Drops – What to Expect After Your Appointment
Your appointment involves dilating or cyclopentolate drops, please arrange for someone to drive you home from the clinic or organise alternative transport.
During your appointment at Insight Eye Clinic, we will need to use eye drops to dilate (enlarge) your pupils. This allows us to examine your eyes more thoroughly and perform certain specialised tests.
We may also use cyclopentolate drops, which temporarily relax the focusing muscles of the eye as well as dilating the pupils.
How will your vision be affected?
After the drops are administered, you may experience:
- • Blurred vision, particularly when reading or looking at things close-up
- • Increased sensitivity to bright light and glare
- • Difficulty focusing clearly
- • Pupils that remain noticeably larger than normal
These effects are temporary. For most dilating drops, they generally improve over several hours. Some drops, including cyclopentolate, can have effects that last longer and, in some people, may continue for up to 24 hours.
Wearing sunglasses after your appointment can make your eyes more comfortable, particularly outdoors.
Important: You CANNOT DRIVE after your appointment
You must not drive while your vision is blurred, your eyes are sensitive to light or you are experiencing any other visual effects from the drops.
Your appointment involves dilating or cyclopentolate drops, please arrange for someone to drive you home from the clinic or organise alternative transport.
Do not plan to drive yourself home and do not resume driving until your vision has completely returned to normal and the effects of the drops have worn off.
