WOW! I hate having my eyes dilated!

[benburch]

I'm sitting here in the dark and I can STILL hardly read the screen. I hate this part of eye exams!!!

[Bossy Monkey]

1. Go take a nap. You'll get a killer headache trying to look at a CRT

with your eyes dilated.

[benburch]

4. No choice.

Engineering a remote from the take back america conference.

[Bossy Monkey]

6. Wraparound shades might help then.

Even the little dinky plastic thing they give you (or at least me) to slip behind glasses while driving helps a little. All sympathies to you regardless. Hope the dilation clears up soon if it hasn't already.

[benburch]

9. Clearing up now.

I'd have been happier if they had just let me smoke a joint to dilate them... :evilgrin:

[mikeytherat]

2. I once had an eye exam, drove out of the underground parking garage

into the blazing sunlight, and damn near wrecked the car. One huge, white blur was all I saw!

mikey_the_rat

[radwriter0555]

3. Docs don't need to do that barbaric procedure if they have decent,

upgraded equipment. I haven't had that done in 20 years and my vision is really, REALLY poor, in the thousands or something.

I don't know why they keep torturing people like that.

[benburch]

5. They can really inspect the retina without that?

I've never heard that!

[Texasgal]

12. No they cannot.

There is no other treatment to inspect the back of the eye except dialation.

[Nutmegger]

17. Yeah there is a machine

My optometrist had a special machine but the procedure wasn't covered by insurance so I just took the damn drops.

http://www2.hurlburt.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123014603

[Texasgal]

21. Optomap is new.

It is rarely used.

The equipment is VERY expensive.

Compared to drops anyway.

[Texasgal]

11. It's not BARBARIC.

Jesus!

I am an RN that works for a opthalmologic surgical practice. We also have Optometrist here in our office as well.

The only REAL way they can find out if you have any thing going on in the BACK of your eye is Dilated fundus exams. It usually goes away within a few hours.

It is a VERY good procedure to have done. Catching things EARLY can prevent blindness. Just because YOU had a bad experience doesn't mean that dilation is BARBARIC.

[jmowreader]

28. A few HOURS? Lucky you!

The first time I got dilated was when I was ten. That was a few days ago.

Back then, the dilation procedure really sucked if you had brown eyes--apparently the darker your eyes are the harder it is to dilate them, so they used a drop that felt like they put dilute battery acid in your eyes, immediately followed it with one that felt like they put acid straight out of the battery in them, and finally put something in your eyes to keep the first two drops from eating through the back of your head. Thirty minutes later, they'd put another series in my eyes. And forty minutes after that, you got to see the doctor--who would stick you in a pitch black room then use a World War II searchlight to examine the insides of your eyes.

Every six months for the next eight years, I had to go through that shit. Not because there was anything WRONG with my eyes, I just had the worst vision of any patient who didn't come in with a dog and he'd invite ophthalmologists from other practices to come over and gaze upon my horrible eyes. (And because I was the Severe Myopia Training Aid for all North Idaho, I always got my exams comped. That was kinda cool, even though it was unnecessary--we had plenty of money.)

In addition to being the Severe Myopia Training Aid, I also got to be the Dilation Drug Guinea Pig--they got samples of new drops from the eye drop company, they'd try 'em on me first, and every time we'd be done the last thing the doctor would tell us is "if he's not back to normal in three days, bring him back in." I had to go back in four times. Once it took a week to get them back down. Two days was average.

Even now it takes a day and a half to get them back to normal, but the drops are vastly improved--one drop, they flare out in ten minutes, and I walk around wearing welder's goggles for the next day and a half.

[Nikia]

7. Last time I went to the eye doctor I almost passed out

Evidently, I am one of those rare people who has a reaction to the yellow dye stuff that they use to see one's eye better.

[benburch]

10. Yikes!

Not fun.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. My dear benburch!

I absolutely HATE that stuff!

I told my optometrist that he could not use it on me....it gives me a dreadful headache...

So he just has to struggle along without it....too bad!

[Texasgal]

13. That's too bad C. Peggy.

You of all people ( a former nurse ) should KNOW that dilation can prevent blindness and other horrible eye disease.

C'mon now... You should know better! :)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. I know my eyes need to be dilated......

I just want them to do it without drugs!

Just let me sit in a dark room for a few minutes, and then he can see just fine.....

NO WAY are those drugs going to get used on me again......

[Texasgal]

15. Well... if your pupils can get large enough to see

in the back that's great!

You have blue eyes so your pigment may be easier. But what if they need to see back in there in more depth?

No drops?

[benburch]

18. I know you can see the macular region and the fovea without.

But I was never under the impression you could visualize the edges without a dilated pupil.

[Texasgal]

19. Depends on the size of your pupil.

We have patients, VERY FEW I'll add, that it can be done with.

Also there are different strengths in fundus meds. You can use the lower amount on people with light colored eyes.

[benburch]

25. I have one of these nifty optical widgets for looking at your own eye.

No reason to have it; I'm just an optics nerd. So I look at the central parts of my retina occasionally.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

22. He hasn't insisted on it so far.....

We will see.....

Maybe they will come up with some drug that won't bother me as much...

:shrug:

And, just so you know, I do appreciate your concern....:hug:

[benburch]

16. But as soon as they use the bright light to illuminate the retina...

your pupils contract again! And the reaction time is on the order of .2 seconds. At least, I HOPE your pupils contract under bright light!!!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

20. Yes, my pupils are reactive to light!

But he can still see just fine.....

Until they come up with some better way to dilate my pupils, I will just take the risk......

:hi:

[benburch]

27. Glad to hear that...

Because posting to DU from a body bag could be a bit cramped.

[qnr]

23. really. I had mine done on an extremely bright winter day, shortly after a

major snowfall.

[benburch]

24. YIKES.

That was either masochism or bad luck!!!

[qnr]

26. bad luck. It was strange, every single appointment I had at the VA

hospital last winter was during or immediately after a major snowstorm.

[doc03]

29. Would you rather lose your eye or die from cancer of the eye?

I had a dilated eye exam about 18 months ago and found I had a rather rare cancer (Ocular Melanoma), that is a tumor on the retina. I had to have a radioactive plaque implanted in my eye for five days to kill the tumor. I went back for my 6 month check a couple months ago and the tumor has shrunk to about 1/3 it's pre treatment size and so far I have had no vision loss. If these tumors are not found early they must remove your eye and there is a great danger of it metastasizing to the liver. Suffer through the exam it's worth it!!!!!!

on edit: I have also corresponded with another member of DU that has one of these tumors and is still going through evaluation..

[Canuckistanian]

30. I had it done for the first time a few years ago

I thought it was cool how I could actually see in a really dark room. The optometrist's receptionist asked me if I wanted a pair of those cheap sunglasses. I said no, I wasn't too bad.

MISTAKE!

As soon as I pulled out the shadow of the building, I was blinded, painfully.

Now, the office was closed and I had no money to buy some shades.

I squinted like a mole all the way home and bolted for a dark room.