Eye appointment, can't drive due to drops, for how long?

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I have an appointment at the eye clinic on Monday morning at 8.45am and they will be putting drops in my eyes to dilate them so they can examine the back of them. This had just been arranged and I had already arranged to go out in the evening. Do you think I will be ok to drive by 7pm. Not sure how long these drops take to wear off?

I think the general rule of thumb is no driving for a day but I'm not sure.

I've had the eye appointments several times and there's always plenty of people who usually drive on the bus home with me.

Don't do what I did though. I had an appointment with the eye doc in the morning, and an appointment with the neurosurgeons in the afternoon. My pupils were still dilated and caused many amusement amongst them, whilst trying to convince them no I haven't taken anything!

12 hours minimum, I would say.

Ds got out of doing his homework with an afternoon appointment but was cleared for school the next day.

Takes about an hour - 2 max.

I have the drops regularly as I have glaucoma. I'm usually fine to drive in a couple of hours. You shouldn't drive if you have blurred vision still.

The recommended time is 4 hours but obviously if your vision is still blurred at 7pm you shouldn't drive.

It depends on which drops they use, and on you as an individual. If you ask at the appointment they should be able to give you an idea of how long they will last, but I don't know if I would drive that evening. If you were to have an accident then your insurance might not cover you.

They are most likely to have tropicamide eye drops, they do not blur distance vision very much but do blur near Vision. As your pupils are dilated you will be more bothered by glare. You should try and avoid driving for a few hours but should be fine by the evening if drops are going in early morning. Take some sun glasses with you.

I have these drops regularly. I try to have my appointment towards the end of the day as it makes me feel crap and grumpy and so the rest of the day is essentially written off.

Make sure you have a back up plan if you do plan on driving later

Ok great, thanks everybody. Looks like I should be ok, but back up plan a good idea!

I had these drops yesterday. I was advised not driving for 6 hours.

I must admit I didn't notice too much problem with my distance vision, but couldn't see close up at all with my glasses on. And had to hold my mobile phone right up to my eyes (without glasses on) to read texts.

Also when I went outside and it was sunny I couldn't see a thing.

I had this done last week, drops went in at about 10am and I would say that I was fine to drive by 3pm. Vision was very blurry up close for the first couple of hours and it gradually got better. Definitely take sunglasses to you appointment as I couldn't tolerate any light at all for several hours after having the drops...

I was fine to drive by school run time after I had it done at 9am so you should be okay. You can wear sunglasses if your eyes still feel sensitive, it helps. I’ve had it done lots of times.

Irrelevant to the actual question, but ... when my mother was a child she had regular eye checks due to a type of congenital cataract. The short-acting drops we have nowadays didn't exist then - she had to have dilating drops in her eyes regularly for several days in advance of the checkup ....

I get checked every 3-4 weeks and have these drops every time, they tell me I'm not allowed to drive for 24 hours but that might be because my eyes are shite

I would really recommend asking for professional advice from the hospital. You have received a variety of answers here. Not all drops are the same.