Cycloplegic refraction test

A cycloplegic refraction test is an eye examination used to determine your true prescription for glasses or contacts. During the test, eye drops are used to temporarily paralyze your eye's focusing muscle, preventing it from changing focus. This allows the eye doctor to accurately measure the eye's refractive error without the influence of the eye's natural focusing effort. The process helps identify issues like nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism more precisely, especially in children or those with certain eye conditions. The effects of the drops typically last for a few hours, so vision may be slightly blurry during this time.