Why are eye drops used during the eye exam?
Most often eye drops are used in order to increase the size of the pupil in order to get a better view of the inside of the eye. These drops take 2-6 hours to wear off and generally make patients more sensitive to light and cause difficulty reading during that period of time. Sometimes drops are used to relax the focusing muscle of the eye to help determine a patient’s prescription. This is often done in far sighted children. Drops can also be used in office to make the surface of the eye numb in order to make it easier to perform some diagnostic eye tests such as measuring eye pressure.
