Cycloplegic Refraction

What is Refraction?

Refraction is a process your eye care expert uses to measure your refractive error or vision issue. A refractive error is an optical flaw that does not enable light to be brought into sharp focus on your retina, resulting in blurred or distorted vision. Examples of refractive errors are myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. During a comprehensive eye assessment, your doctor uses refraction to figure out how much power is needed to bring your eyes to normal, perfectly focused vision. 

What Is Cycloplegic Refraction Procedure?

A cycloplegic refraction is a procedure used to identify an individual’s total refractive error by momentarily paralyzing the muscles that help in focusing the eye. Cycloplegic eye drops are used to temporarily immobilize or unwind the ciliary body, or focusing muscle, of the eyes. When a cycloplegic refraction is carried out, the doctor is searching for what the full refractive mistake is without any influence of the person being evaluated. For instance, when a doctor carries out a regular refraction without cycloplegic eye drops, there could potentially be an impact on the readings from the patient. Often the patient might be unconsciously over-focusing. This may make someone appear more nearsighted or less farsighted than they are. 

Who Needs a Cycloplegic Refraction?

Often, when people come in for an eye assessment, things are not constantly what they appear. An example of this that happens in all eye care practices is the case of the varying prescription.

Let’s say that an individual has an appointment with his eye doctor, the assessment went smoothly, and a brand-new prescription for eyeglasses was figured out and the brand-new glasses were made. A few days later the patient revisits his eye doctor grumbling that while the glasses helped a little, his eyes still felt very worn out and the glasses just did not seem right. The doctor then inspects the prescription once again by performing a refraction. Nevertheless, this time, the doctor discovers once again that the patient can see 20/20 through a range of lens powers. While this patient is undoubtedly farsighted, he also has a very large amplitude of accommodation. This suggests that the patient can focus a large amount and is able to compensate in some circumstances for his farsightedness. This sounds like a good thing, but when an individual has to compensate that much and hold it for a prolonged period of time, the effort becomes exhausting.

This ability to over-focus during an eye test can result in incorrect results and glasses that do not work as they should. When this takes place, the doctor has to find a method to manage the individual’s capability to accommodate. A cautious refraction can assist in accomplishing this. Nevertheless, the best method to reach the most accurate prescription is by using cycloplegic eye drops.

The drops briefly paralyze the focusing muscle inside the eye so that a person can no longer accommodate or focus his eyes at all. While this makes the patient’s vision extremely blurry for a bit, it allows the doctor to measure the whole quantity of farsightedness. The doctor can then measure the ‘true’ refractive error. 

There are three primary types of patients that medical professionals prefer to perform a cycloplegic refraction: 

1. Children: A cycloplegic refraction is often performed on children. Children have an ability to accommodate a great deal. Also, children have a tendency to focus at a close range and are unable to control their focusing when they are supposed to be looking at a far range during an assessment. When a doctor performs a cycloplegic refraction, they can be confident they are determining the full prescription. 

2. Adults experiencing pre-presbyopia: Presbyopia is a condition that impacts everyone around age 40-45. We start to lose our capability to focus on nearby objects. Some people, experience a lot of symptoms during pre-presbyopia. They are unable to shift focus quickly from close to distance and back again. The best way to isolate the issue is for a doctor to perform a cycloplegic refraction. 

3.LASIK patients: People that have chosen to have laser vision correction or other refractive surgery must go through a cycloplegic refraction. This is performed to ensure that their accommodation does not interfere with the outcome of their surgery.  

Do Cycloplegic Eye Drops Have Any Side Effects?

Cycloplegic eye drops do tend to sting for a couple of seconds when first applied to the eye. Depending on the kind of cycloplegic drop used, they often have the temporary side effect of leaving the patient with blurry vision for several hours. This blurry vision can last even into the next day. Because cycloplegic eye drops also dilate the eye, they make the patient light sensitive for a few hours, and protective sunglasses need to be worn. Cycloplegic eye drops can also cause an acute angle closure glaucoma attack in people with very narrow drainage angles. Your eye doctor will inspect to make sure you are not at risk for glaucoma prior to using the eye drops.