Is it normal to instill eye drops to dilate my pupils prior to an eye check?

[MyBlueFinch]

Saw the optometrist for routine eye check recently.
First concern, they instilled eye drops into both my eyes to dilate the pupils. My eyes started stinging.
After the check i left for home, second problem started. I could not focus as the lights outside were dazzling and i kept covering my eyes and hoping i did not bump into anything. It was scary for me .
I do not know if this is normal procedure as i never had such drops into my eyes prior to an eye check.
Thank you for reading this.

Retinal scans are not equal to a decent optometrist using a lens to look at your eyes themselves. I had retinal tear and a retinal detachment. For the detachment which was multiple tears not all tears were picked up on the scans.

Are people getting charged extra for these scans? I’ve only had these drips when looking at floaters and checking for retinal damage if had flashing in my eyes.

I have regular images taken, which in the past I had to pay extra for, but I think are now included in my payment scheme I have with the optician

yeah my eye check ups for diabetes have these eye drops that mean I can't see well afterwards. Its a pain in the arse because the NHS only use opticians in supermarkets that are not walking distance.

Did I say they were? No.

I have never had this for a standard eye test. But I had it done recently as part of diabetes eye screening.

Unfortunately I had a reaction to the drops and fainted, so I will not be having them again!

Not for normal eye test. Yes for diabetic eye screening or anything at an eye clinic - you are normally warned not to drive and ideally to take someone with you.

Yes completely normal but the usually explains it to you.

Ya I get them in my regular eye checks - but I am very short sighted with astigmatism so I don't know is it a regular check for everyone? Might be age related, I didn't used to get drops till my late 30s
I hate them, am stupidly sensitive so schedule my appointment as late as possible and basically go to bed after. I'm OK to navigate round the house etc but can't focus on something in my hands to make dinner say, and trying gives me a terrible headache.
I've heard it said that blue eyed light skinned people react more to them, particularly red heads but don't know if there's science behind it. I've had drops in eye clinic when I developed flashing lights at side of my vision but they didn't seem as bad as the opticians, blurry but no headache and wore off faster, stung like heck going in though

They’ve never done that to me and my last eye check was 3 months ago

I’ve never known this to be normal for any standard eye test I’ve had at a standard optician

its standard for a diabetes eye test and specialist eye test my mother has at the eye hospital. They send you this information upfront and ask you before the eye drops how you are getting home and that you can’t drive for 4 hours and who was with you

absolutely ask them to confirm they told you what to expect

Independent opticians in this neck of the woods are becoming like hens teeth and as they get taken over by the chains I've noticed the upselling has become ridiculous. No such thing as a simple eye test anymore. Scans, eye masks, eye drops, it's relentless. I'm interested to see that dilating drops seem to be standard fare for many on here - I bet it's just another example of the same. Are these opticians charging extra for the "dilating exam" I wonder?

Oh what a cynic I am.

I had it done last year - but it wasn't part of my routine eye test. I can't remember now why it was done - I'd had a few problems with my vision. I had to make a special appointment to have this done and was told that I wouldn't be able to drive afterwards, but not warned about how normal daylight would affect my eyes! I didn't have sunglasses with me, and I couldn't see to walk to the train station. Fortunately, a friend found me standing blindly on the pavement and lent me her sunglasses, then a neighbour came along and he gave me a lift home. I was completely visually incapacitated for about 3 or 4 hours.

I’ve never experienced this at a standard eye test. It is, however, always done at my annual diabetic eye screening. The drops dilate the pupils and allow specialist equipment to take images of the back of the eye. The images can be examined for signs of cataracts or other abnormalities.

You should be advised in advance if these drops are going to be used, and should receive info on what this will feel like, along with guidance on not driving for 2-5 hours as your vision will be blurry, wearing sunglasses etc.

It's standard if you're older, are very short sighted and have astigmatism, in my experience. It's not standard for most people hence unless I remember to tell the call centre when I book the appointment, I have to come back the next week just for that test!

I'm 67, -9 and have astigmatism. It's not standard for me. Not old enough or short sighted enough, perhaps?

I'm -12 and I've had free eye tests for years, and the NHS give me a contribution towards my specs!

Only at hospital/clinic eye appointments and pre-warned about driving and bright lights. Not as part of a routine check.

They would have told while they were dilating you surely?

We do not dilate as a routine part of an eye test.

Was you having eye problems? floaters? etc

No not usually. It's only done if there are specific concerns where they might need to see the back of the eye.

My condition that could have led to blindness was only discovered after I was 'upsold' a £10 additional scan that they were offering