Pupils that don't dilate

[Susan445]

What does it mean if your pupils won't dilate? My son is 2000 miles away and in the ER beause he can't see out of his right eye. He's been having headaches and numbness in his right hand. They're going to do an MRI and I told him to tell them that he needs an EMG since I have Muscular Dystrophy. He's 39 years old. Does this sound like something familiar?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Your sons symptoms are serious things and require a full work up to be sure he doesn't have tumor, MS, aneurysm.

JCH MD

[sacreD_]

I have relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis and I recently had an appointment and my Neuro had a difficult time getting my pupils to dilate. What does that mean?
I Thank you in advance.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Pupils are harder to dilate in brown eyes especially in dark skinned or black individuals. By contrast light colored eyes in fair complected people dilate 2-3 times as fast. Diabetics are hard to dilate.   Also pupils take more time to dilate as we get older.  Lastly how wide the eye dilates depends on what types of medication, their concentration and how much gets in the eye.  Often people squeeze or tear and not much medicine gets in the eye or it washes out. I don't think you can draw any conclusions about your MS or your eye from your most recent experience.