Atropine pupil dilution use and precautions

  Since children’s eyes are highly regulated, if they are not dilated with the stronger atropine, the eye’s regulation cannot be fully relaxed and the result of the regulation is inaccurate, often leading to undercorrection of farsightedness. The use of atropine completely paralyzes the ciliary muscles of the eye, making optometry more accurate when regulation is lost. Therefore, atropine dilated optometry eliminates the interference of accommodation, making the optometry more objective and the prescription more accurate. The use of atropine pupil dilatation is the only accurate means of checking refractive errors and determining the nature of refraction (myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism) and diagnosing amblyopia, and it is harmless to the eyes when used correctly.  Usage: 1. Once a day in the morning and once a day in the evening (for patients with strabismus, once a day in the morning and once in the evening), for both eyes, for three days in a row, in a cool place. After three days, discard the remaining eye medication, do not take orally or give to others.  2, the fourth day without eye medication, go directly to the hospital for follow-up eye examinations and optometry.  3, when applying atropine gel, let the child take a lying position, gently pull open the lower eyelid, let the child’s eyeballs look upward, apply the rice grain size atropine gel in the eye (note: do not apply too much), and then lift the upper eyelid to wrap the gel to prevent the gel from squeezing out of the eye when the eye is closed.  4. After applying the eye medication, immediately press the nasal root of the inner corners of both eyes for 3 minutes, in order to block the tear dots to prevent the atropine from flowing into the nasal cavity and causing nasal absorption, and to reduce the occurrence of side effects such as dry mouth and red face in children.  Caution: 1. The eye ointment applied to the skin outside the eye should be wiped clean.  2. As atropine dilates the pupil, it is normal for patients to feel photophobia and difficulty in seeing near.  3. Avoid bright light stimulation during pupil dilatation, especially strong sunlight stimulation, and wear a brimmed hat or sunglasses outdoors.  4. During pupil dilatation, children should be watched carefully to avoid bruising due to blurred vision.  5. Because pupils are dilated to relax the ciliary muscle, do not use your eyes at close distances during pupil dilatation, such as reading, drawing, or playing the piano. Children with glasses should still wear glasses after dilating their pupils, as this will have little effect on their normal life, such as going to kindergarten and watching TV.  6. If your child has a serious heart condition or was originally diagnosed with glaucoma, please use with caution.  Most of these side effects will subside on their own in about 4 to 5 hours as the effect of the medicine wears off, so no special treatment is needed. Very few symptoms such as generalized fever and headache can be considered as more serious adverse reactions to atropine, which should be discontinued immediately.  8. It takes about three weeks for the pupil to return to normal after the pupil is stopped, but the time for pupil recovery may vary depending on individual differences, but this is normal.  Although dilated eye examinations for children can cause inconvenience, they do not cause any damage to the eyes and are a common examination in pediatric ophthalmology. For patients who have already been fitted with glasses, they only need to wear glasses during the dilated pupil period. Eye shielding and training should be done after the pupil has recovered.