ABOUT DILATION

If you are DIABETIC or PEDIATRIC patient, a dilation will be a required part of your annual eye exam at our office.

K&J Vision Care provides comprehensive eye care, which means checking both your vision and your eye health. Performing a dilated eye exam allows us to FULLY assess your internal eye health and is considered the gold standard of care to detect and monitor eye diseases. Dilation is included in the cost of your comprehensive eye exam.

What is Dilation?

Dilation is a procedure in which we use eye drops to enlarge the pupils. This allows us to have a better view inside of the eyes to detect diseases or problems such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, retinal detachments, diabetes and hypertension. Without dilation your eye doctor may not be able to see these vision threatening conditions.

The eye drops require about 15-20 minutes to reach their full effect, and your eyes may remain dilated for up to 4-6 hours. While your pupils are dilated you may experience blurred vision and light sensitivity. It is never recommended that you drive while your eyes are dilated due to the increased light sensitivity that can cause visual impairment, and if you must be outdoors, tinted glasses with UV protection will be required.

Who Needs a Dilation?

All patients are recommended to have a dilation at their first visit and every 1-2 years after that. Anybody with diabetes or other high risk health conditions generally may need to be dilated more often than that. If you are diabetic or a pediatric patient, a dilation will be a required part of your annual eye exam at our office. A dilation may be required to determine the cause of certain symptoms, such as floating spots in your vision, visual flashes of light, blurry vision or headaches.