Eye test question- HELP!!!!

[Helpplease2]

does anyone know- if the opticians puts drops in your eyes , do those drops go into your blood at all ? Its the drops to look at the back of the eye .. would they go into the blood like other medications do ? reason im asking- if they did, would someone be able to donate blood after it or would you have to wait some time before donating blood so it’s out the blood ?

Tried to call my optician to ask but couldn’t get through. Also tried to Google it but can’t understand it or find a clear answer ! Hoping someone on here knows

Er, what? On the outside chance this is a real post then no those teeny tiny drops will not in any way affect your blood. And if they did they would be one of the questions they ask you when you go to the donation centre.

Hi, you are fine. Dilating drops do not go into blood 😊

They don't affect your ability to give blood.

I've had the drops thousands of times and have also given blood many times, they are not a notifiable medication on the blood donation form.

Hold your horses. Dilating eye drops can get absorbed into your bloodstream. I checked after my kids were always really suddenly extremely tired after their eye specialist appointments (twice yearly for many years). Whether it affects blood-donation, that I cannot say. Best bet is not to give blood if you are unsure.

You will be able to give blood after

They are topical , just to dilate the pupil.

Yes it can. It can be systematically absorbed in not conjunctival blood vessels

What the hell, why would it not be real? I’ve asked the question on here and had a mix of responses some saying yes it goes into the bloodstream and other saying no it doesn’t, so it’s obviously not that obvious a question so not sure why you’re saying things like in the outside chance this is real 🤨

Just posting to bump this as I’ve had a mix of replies and answers so bumping in case anyone else knows

if you really need clarification (and I think pp is correct that it’s not something asked in the pre-donation survey so v v likely ok) you need to contact the blood service, rather than the optician.

phone no is 0300 123 23 23

Contact the Blood service and ask but I’ve never seen the donor form asking whether you’ve had eye drops recently.

Why do you want to know this? Are you worried about something?

Brilliant thank you 👍 I will call them tomorrow . What threw me off is when I googled it , it said they can pick up these eye drops in blood tests (as in, if you went to the hospital and they did a blood test for drugs etc- not sure if that even happens but you get what I mean!) so I suppose what I was worried about is if they can tell by blood test that someone has had these eye drops then it might be in blood for blood donation ? But then other sites said there wouldn’t be a problem so not sure if it was in correct that it could be picked up in a blood test. Its all very confusing isn’t it !

I have an eye test booked and am supposed to be giving blood not long afterwards with a friend (we have planned it together because she is nervous so she wanted us to go together ) but when I go to the opticians usually they put the drops into my eyes so wasn’t sure if it would be a problem and I should reschedule the blood appointment ! I tried to call them in advance to ask but couldn’t get through

No they don't. Have had lots of eye issues over the years too

If they were an issue, it would mentioned on the blood donor website

Small amounts do get absorbed into the bloodstream, from drainage ducts in the eyes mainly rather than the conjunctival vessels.

if you ask the clinician to occlude the puncta it will reduce systemic absorption.

it’s very small amounts, anyway.

I’d still leave it a couple of hours - besides you’ll need a bit of time for the pupil dilation to reduce. Have you been advised not to drive afterwards?

This is the questionnaire, they ask about recent dental treatment, conditions, sex life but nothing about opticians or eye treatments.

my.blood.co.uk/Check/0

There's also a detailed bit which mentions eye drops following surgery and for hay fever but nothing about opticians, optical checks, dilation etc my.blood.co.uk/KnowledgeBase/Index/E

And the only concerns about eye drops are if they are antibiotics or steroids

my.blood.co.uk/KnowledgeBase/Index/E

At university I used to donate blood after smoking weed the night before. I asked the 1st time if this was a problem and was told "Nope, not at all. If it was we wouldn't set up on a university campus".

So, there's that.

The dose is tiny. The half life is 111 minutes, so within 2 hours only half of the tiny dose is left in your body. You don't need to worry.