United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My child will be starting kindergarten this year and will need a vision screening. I am a bit concerned about having her eyes dilated. She may phrenic nerve injury which is affecting her diaphragm and because
of the brachial plexus nerve injury, I keep thinking that what if we dilate her pupils and they don't go back to normal because of bpi???

I am going to refuse the dilation portion anyway and will probably end up getting into it with the school nurse.

Am I being paranoid?

Our daughter's eye were dialated due to Horner's Syndrome (her opthalmologist wanted to check for damage). The eyes did not return to normal for somewhere between 5-7 days. The eye doctor said this was normal for her given her injury and expected it to take around a week to return to normal. By the end of the week her pupils were back to what they were before the test. Good luck.

My son has been dilated and his went back to normal in a regular amount of time. He hated every second of it though...!

I may be missing something, but when did dilating the pupils of a child became the "norm" for a school vision screening? My son (he's 10) never had this done. Heck, I was just offerred it for the first time at the eye doctor this year and I have been wearing glasses/contacts with a yearly exam since I was in 6th grade (so basically forever)!

Just curious as to why your school district is requesting or requiring this to be done as mine never has except to do the usual read the letters with each eye and both eyes.

Tanya in NY

My town in Indiana has internal eye exam on the form which I am assuming is going to be with dilation.

Wow, I am so surprised that they request this. My kids are only required to have a regular vision test. I think it (test with dilation) should be done on teenagers and adults and thats about it unless there is a problem or family history of something. Or maybe I am wrong!

~Krista~

I never thought about the pupils not going back to normal after dilating them b/c of the BPI. Is this just a thought you had or is there a real reason for the concern? I'm not saying that sarcastically so I hope it didn't come out that way. I'm really wondering though b/c I know that my daughter had her pupils dilated during an exam with an Opthalmologist. She hated the experience. I don't think the drops would've bothered her so much though had the dr. (who was not a Pediatric specialist) communicated better with us about what he was going to do and when he was going to do it. Some drs. think that if you just do it quick w/o any "warning" (aka communication b/c dr and patient!!) then it's better than explaining first what they're going to do. AARRGHH! So, to answer your question, I don't know if you're being paranoid or if I was not careful enough to consider a risk of this. I'd love more info. if you have any regarding possible risks. Thanks.

~Tina, bpmom@comcast.net, Mom to Nicole (6 y.o. w/LOPBI) & Joshua (16 mos. w/NOBPI)

I actually had my eyes dilated by mistake several years ago... It was the first time and I did not realize it was not supposed to last as long as it did. I also did not realize how much I hated all that light...

I had them dilated several months ago and now I know more about Horner's and this doctor said it was no big deal.. and this time is was not...

The first time is was an accident and the doctor had not washed his hands between patients and handled my new contact lenses.... I was not prepared for it.

Kath

Actually it is just a thought I had.

Also, as I was reading about phrenic nerve injury as it pertains to the diaphragm the pupil thing came up.

So if the pupil is affected during a phrenic nerve injury, my line of reasoning was, well if the phrenic nerve is part of pupil contraction (not entirely sure if this is correct), then what happens if you artificially change the pupil size of someone who may have a phrenic nerve injury?

Again, these are just thoughts I was considering.

Also, because of my daughter's injury, I do believe I suffer from a sort of post traumatic condition in which I question everything.

k1999

It is better to ask these questions now because then maybe you can feel more comfortable when things come up. It is so hard to know what is connected with this injury. I am 65 and in the last few years finally realized how many of my health issues were related to my OBPI.

There is no such thing as a silly question here. We are all here to support and help each other.

You may very well be suffering from post traumatic stress ... check with a professional about it to help you.

Kath ( adult/obpi)