Retinal Dilation drugs

Please tell me why the color of a person's iris affects the length of time their eyes remain dilated. Particularly when your post indicates blue eyed patients will be dilated longer and brown eyed shorter. My opthamologist just told me brown eyed patients would be dilated longer than blue eyed.

Confused


This discussion is related to Drugs to Dilate Eyes.

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

Your ophthalmologist is wrong (I don't say that very often).

The brown pigment soaks up the drug and makes less available to the dilation muscles.

A blue eyed blond caucasion will dilate in 10 minutes and a negro/black will dilate in 20-30 minutes.

JCH MD

[Oklahoma7]

I had my eyes dilated for a check-up for glaucoma, and cataracts.  They used 3 kinds of drops.  After the procedure I felt odd, sort of sick and dizzy, and I was sensitive to indoor light.  I wonder why 3 different drops.  My optometrist only uses 1 type of drops, and I've never had a problem, until I went to the opthalmologist.

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

Many optometrist do not dilate their patients.  The first drops was probably for the glaucoma check and the next two for dilating the pupil to exam the retina and vitreous.

[Oklahoma7]

I had a question about dilation drops, and how they made me a little sick, and jittery.  Cannot find the answer.  I have been looking at many questions and replies and cannot find my question which I posted on Jan 9.

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

The jitteriness is probably due to one of the two dilation drops,  neosynephrine.  This is a sympathetic stimulant.  It can also raise blood pressure.  Years ago we used 10%, now most practices use 2.5% to decrease these problems.