

Certain diseases, such as diabetes, increase the risk of eye disease. If you've experienced eye diseases that affect the back of the eye, such as retinal detachment, you may have an increased risk of future eye problems. The risk of eye diseases increases with age-particularly over age 40.Įye health. Of course, it's always important to dilate if we want to do a complete exam of the retina." Factors Your Eye Doctor Considers When Determining Whether Eye Dilation Is Necessary:Īge. retinoscopy) if they're not very cooperative. We dilate because they have a greater capacity to accommodate and to allow the doctor to use an objective measure to confirm their prescription (i.e. The exception is when we're examining young children.

In fact, if you are seeing your eye doctor solely to get a prescription, dilation induces potential changes to a prescription that aren't present in the normal state of the eye when the iris/pupil is not dilated. William Barlow of the University of Utah's Moran Eye Center notes, "Dilation isn't always required. A thorough, dilated exam allows your ophthalmologist to do a complete exam of the retina, and that is important to do throughout your life, as several eye diseases and conditions are detected at their earliest stages during a thorough eye exam:
