Floaters after eye exam with pupil dilation

I've had eye floaters for years and am 39, but I had my pupils dilated last year. Before that, I didn't get them dilated in years because of this new machine that they have which just takes a picture of your eyeball. Anyway, the eye doctor told me last year that the picture only covers about 85% of the eye so he recommended the dilation and I said yes. A few days later, I started noticing way more floaters and they have not gone away. Like I said, I've had them since I was a teenager but there are way more in my eyes since the dilation last year. I wondered if it was purely coincidental but maybe it's not. I am going back for an annual check once this coronavirus stuff settles down and I will ask the doctor what he thinks. I will follow up on here.

I know what the doctor will tell you..... he will say that it is not possible that dilation results in (more) floaters. I know for a fact that the two times my eyes got dilated the floaters were induced. Specifically the first of these two occasions. I went to a new optometrist (in a Costco store) and my eyes have never hurt as much. I am convinced that the stress on my eyes was the cause of the floaters (that are right now floating "between me and my computer screen").

I went to the eye doctor for a red irritated eye. The doctor said I had iritis. Anyway he dilated my eyes. I was prescribed steroid eye drops every hour and a dilate drop 3 times a day. I went and got a second opinion and the second doctor dilated both eyes, came in for a follow up and was taken off the dilate drop. I only used one drop of dilate other than what the doctors dropped in my eye during a exams. I am 40 yrs old. Now I have black floaters in both eyes. Very unpleasant and I'm positive the dilate drops that were administered during the exams did this. I'm not happy at all and I was out of work 2 months over a red right eye. When I went into the first exam my right eye was red but my vision was good. Never had any issues with my eyes until going to the doctors. Now I'm living with floaters in both eyes.

I am in my mid 40s and had always heard of floaters but had no idea what they actually were. Got eyes dilated for exam and immediately afterward for weeks had floaters that very much affected quality of life and vision. Have never had an issue with eyes and there is no way it was coincidental or that I've always had them and never noticed. Too scared to get another exam. Good luck!

Its better to have expensive glasses than cheap glasses, because cheap glasses do damage to eyesight over time.

I am experiencing the same. First I never had floater in my eye after my eye examination in december, 2 weeks later i started experiencing floaters very less. I got afraid and went to the doctor again to know why floaters appear, she found nothing in my retina and told no symptoms. after the second examination, i see even more prominent floaters. I am just wondering if the dilators can cause this. I am a research scientist too and I am only 35 years old. Sometimes doctors do not understand the chemistry of the drug and their side effects better.

my eye pressure is quite high so seeing doctor again in 3 months.

you are not alone. I'm 34 with 2020 vision. I am not myopic either. I had inflammation in my eye so for the very first time I had dilated eye exam. after that black spots attached with threads appeared. I went back after 4 days and had an exam again and they found vitreomacular condensation and lattice degeneration. after that I noticed more black spots but I went after 6 weeks. I thought they'll say it's worse, since I saw new floaters. but they said that nothing changed after another dilated exam. next day, I noticed a couple of new spots. why this is happening after the exam?

Hi Dutch Eyes,

I also developed floaters after a routine eye exam with pupil dilation. About a week ago I went to the optometrist to get my eyes retested after a year. I've had dilation before so didn't really think about it except for the fact that the drops he put in my eyes made them sticky - something I don't remember experiencing in the past.

Three days later I began to see spots in my vision. I noticed it more when outside in the bright (Florida) sunlight. I thought maybe I had gotten up too quickly and it was low blood pressure. I tried to remember if i had hit my head (i had not). For the next two days the spots got worse and began to look like a swarm of floating black bugs. Needless to say, alarming. I soon determined it was only in my left eye.

Saturday morning, when I started to see a new blob - like an amoeba, I called my optometrist and explained what was happening. He met me in his office and gave me the paperwork from my exam and advised me to go to Bascom Palmer Eye Institute's emergency room (2 1/2 hours away in Miami). Fortunately it's considered the best in the country. After 3 hours of waiting to see a doctor (with blurry eyes from yet another pupil dilation), I was told I had PVD - Posterior Vitrious Detachment which causes floaters. I learned it's common after 60 years old (I'm 57). But I knew it couldn't be just a coincidence after I'd just had an eye exam! The doctor admitted that it's not uncommon to see this after a routine dilation. How ridiculous! The test used to screen you for PVD, retinal detachment, etc. can actually cause it? PVD can lead to retinal detachment or a retinal tear so I need to be seen in 4 weeks to have the same test performed. I am so confused how this could happen. Maybe i was predisposed to the detachment because of my age? And the test just shook the vitreous up more?

To confuse matters worse, when I originally asked my optomistrist if he's seen this before, he said no. Worried about a law suit, maybe?? And why can I not find anything online about this? Are the pupil dilator gods hiding something from us?? 😭(

Yes, this happened to me also...Never had an issue with floaters before and wham...right after my eyes were dilated, and within 2 days of my eye appointment, i got a massive floater. i was really worried that this would be my new normal, but thank heavens it went away over a few weeks. im never going to allow them to dilate my eyes again.

i have a macular pucker with large floaters that appeared after cataract surgery. i wento the retina specialist the other day who gave a thorough exam and we had agreed to the victrectomy however I did more research and decided against the surgery for now. Ironically, my other eye was perfect in vision without any floaters until immediate after the retinal exam! now I am wondering if I need to go back to the specialist

yes I'm sure this is due to dilation drops

I'm 24 years old and I'm an Engineer i did my first dilation test then got one first eye floater. Then i went to another doc. he also did dilation then within 15 days my floaters increase. I'm afraid too much and and I visited again and again this is within 6 months. then I started thinking what wrong i do in this 6 months previously I was thinking it might be due to any medicine reaction but now I am not considered dilation parameter in my mind.

Doctor said it is due to degradation of vitreous fluid

but if it is degradation It must be long process to develop

floaters like once in month like that but i got too many

and I'm young just 24 not myopic.

I again say I had crystal clear vision before test this stars developing after 2 days after test.

It is just like that every body reacts differently for different drugs some have allergy to drugs some don't have.

I think I'm in those people who have reaction after dilated but it's part of research I don't know why many doctors denies.

Hi, after a Google search I found your post. My wife who is a Diabetic sees her eye Dr. annually, and 2 days after her last visit she started seeing a couple floaters in her eye. I became suspicious of the eye exam, what a coincidence. She don't think the floater is a result of the exam but I do.

Glad i found your post, and that I now know it has happened to others.

Unfortunately, I do not see a way out of it, cause eye exams are necessary and dilating the eyes has to happen.

But I hope that something gets done by people like us raising awareness of this issue and perhaps better eye drops get developed or something else that eliminates this result.

I have a very large floater in my right eye that appeared the day after a eye exam....at the time of the exam..the machine that blows the puff of air at the eye for pictures..seemed more aggressive than I can remember since the last exam...The Doctor assured me it was a coincidence ...I'm not sure if I can believe that....

Got a dilated eye exam in Oct. 2021 (32 years old back then) and an OCT (came out nothing, which was a relief), but then started seeing floaters and the vicious circle started. Went back to internet, searched on floaters and the symptom checkers will tell you, it is either PVD or Retinal detachment or blah blah and get a dilated eye exam to make sure your retina is fine.

Guess what, like an obedient patient of internet symptom checkers, I did it again and after a few days some more floaters, I wasn't sure what is causing this. Nowhere is it mentioned that it could be a side-effect of these drops and I asked the doctors couple of times and they were pretty sure the drops are not causing it. So they told me it must be the start of a PVD, so everytime you see new floaters come for a dilated exam or every 6 months. Being an Engineer myself, I firmly believed in Science and solid research done by doctors and their experience in seeing thousands of patients, I believed them. I was almost sure it was neither the drops nor the OCT and must be something else and I better get checked everytime I see new floaters.

Well, after a total 4 dilation exams and 2 OCTs in less than 4 months (at two different ophthalmologists), I finally stopped in Feb. 2022 and observed that after every dilation I got new floaters and nothing new has been created since then, it has been more than a year. After this terrible phase of my life I was sure, it is either the dilation drops or the OCT, now seeing this post, I believe it is the drops. I have stopped believing that I have PVD. Of course, the floaters caused me to go into a phase of depression and it bothers me every now and then, sometimes filled with regret that why did I not stop after the 1st exam.

Anyway, whatever happened can't be changed, but I think if eye drops can cause floaters, there can be eye-drops which can dissolve the collagen. Hopefully, some pharma company starts looking into it. If they crack it, I am sure it will earn them big bucks as people are desparate for a non-invasive solution.