I've moved from London to Liverpool and my main fear has been how this would impact my injection treatment for wet amd. I can't have iodine & in London I was always questioned about it & made to feel I was an outlier. I had my first injection appointment in Liverpool today & noone batted an eyelid about my request not to have iodine. Also I wasn't given dilating eye drops before my scan so I could still see after leaving the hospital. I now wonder why it was standard to give them at the London clinic I attended. Which is usual? I felt I could get the bus back after injections in both eyes today & now realise it was the dilating drops that made me feel so disabled after the injections, not the injections themselves. All in all I want to thank every nurse I met today who made this treatment as painless as possible.
Good experience!: I've moved from London to... - Macular Society
Good experience!
Hi folkmusicilike. It's good that no fuss was made when you told them you didn't want iodine, but I'm confused as to how they were able to scan the backs of your eyes without applying dilating drops? I've never had scans without first having the dilating eye drops, but maybe they have more sophisticated equipment in Liverpool than they do in London and at my clinic. I would be interested to find out too.
Well, we'll see. I didn't understand either but was so good to walk out without having had the dilating drops. I guess I'll ask the question at my next appointment
I understand what you mean, the dilating drops make the eyes really uncomfortable and some seem worse than others, that could be maybe because my eyes are drier sometimes than others I suppose. x
Hi folkmusicilike, I had a similar experience when moving recently from London to Somerset, I was so worried about finding an alternative to the excellent service I received in London, I need not have worried, the care I now have with injections is absolutely superb, hardly feel a thing, and my eye is virtually fine later the same day, I could not receive better treatment than I do. Best wishes.
So good to know thanks for sharing
Dilating your eyes would be the best way to see your whole retina. Also if your eyes are not dilated cateract formation can be harder to see. An example of this happened to me at an opticians my eyes were not dilated and a cateract was not seen in my left eye but it was clear to see on dilation.
Thanks for that information. I have already been diagnosed with early cataract formation. Maybe not putting the dilating drops in was a mistake, then. I'll ask about it at the next appointment.
I have lots of friends who are opthalmogists I will do some investigations and ask them of the advantages and see if they outweigh the risks.
In Italy they always seem to use the dilating drops which has always put me off going here, my optometrist in Doncaster has never used them and has always given me a full examination including detecting high blood pressure, cataracts etc. I also found someone here in Padova, Italy who did the same. I think it may possible be due to the interest and time involved (very quick to diagonise when the eye is dilated and more people examined).
I was interested to find they don’t use dilating drops in the well known high street opticians pre OCT scan either and having seen the resultant scan, it didn’t look any different from my eye clinic ones.
Interesting!
That’s great. I suffered with awful pain following some of mine, iodine with or without never made a difference. Now wonder if it was dilation drops. Glad you had such a great experience. It certainly helps if you have no pain afterwards.
The times I've had severe unbearable pain were when I had corneal erosion. I've had that immediately after an injection when the anaesthetic wore off and first thing on waking. I had to have loose cornea removed. It's due to very dry eyes and, possibly, disturbance by the speculum. Have you been back to the hospital when you experience such awful pain? The treatment is relatively simple. I'm prescribed lubricating drops for the day (hourly) and gel for night. I start putting drops in as soon as I get home after an injection. Since using those I 've had no further problems. The pain is very different from the irritation caused by iodine.
Hi , I’m in Scotland and very rare to have dilation drops in my eyes , it’s never caused any issues in the years I’ve been getting regular OCT scans.I have myopic CNV both eyes with regular injections, hospital is excellent ,
I never have any issues getting the injection, or the cleaning of my eye , The injection nurses are fabulous and I count myself very lucky after the posts I read about the issues some people have .
One thing I recently had was an Angio scan which they did dilate my eyes for plus the consultant gave my eyes a good check over.
Glad to hear things have improved for you.
Take care
That's very interesting to hear. Thank you. It seems doctors may have differing opinions on how frequently the drops need to be used.
Hallo Corriesboy, I'm moving to Edinburgh in January and will need continuing injections - I've been having them at Moorfields, who always use the dilating drops (which always sting for a moment), but who have never caused me any pain though I seem to have a different injecting nurse every time. Can you say where you are in Scotland?
Hi, I live in South Lanarkshire, about 20 miles south of Glasgow so I have injections at the local Hospital only 30 mins drive, they are excellent and nothing is a problem.
Good luck with the move.
I always thought it was the anaesthetising drops that made mine so blurry, which takes about 3 or 4 hours to clear
It's the dilating drops that make your vision blurry. I coped with that fine until I started having repeated corneal erosion and then both eyes injected. I now put lubricating eye drops every hour and gel at night, so the corneal erosion has stopped, but I still feel completely disorientated after the injections. That's why it was so good to leave the hospital with clear vision for once!
I couldn’t see my husbands car clearly after my last injections and he had to shout me over! I have both eyes injected too
I also live in Scotland and haven’t had dilating drops prior to a scan. I think this is to save time. Both eyes now wet. The worse one can only go four weeks but because the hospital is a distance and I have no family near by am having both injected at the same time six weekly. Private scan shows bad eye is leaking and mistakes in appointments mean even my six week is now overdue. Rather worrying. Does anyone else have this dilemma?
Hi Shimano, Sorry to hear this , where in Scotland are you? I’m about 20 miles South of Glasgow and go to local hospital , have to say they are spot on with injections, scans appointments even through the lockdowns.
Hope things improve take care.
Hi. Am in Ayrshire. Good to hear from you. Going for jabs this afternoon. Had an awful job rearranging transport. Friend coming from Falkirk to take me. Next jabs should be around new year so fingers crossed as will be away then. Cheers. All the best.
I just thought that the dilating drops are not as strong as they used to be. I always have them at Kingston but they haven’t stopped me reading or anything while waiting for a scan etc. Lights have a corona round them but nothing that stops me doing usual things ....I wouldn’t drive obviously.
When I used to have them at Moorefields in the late 90’s/2000s I couldn’t read, see bus numbers, train notice boards etc for hours after and my pupils were so dilated people sometimes looked at me like I was on drugs!
I thought to see the back of the eye you need dilating drops (my brother has them in Scotland) but I’d be interested to see what they say about this if you ask. I’ve also become allergic to iodine and sometimes I feel I’m being questioned (strangely by the male injectors). but usually not.
Hi, I’ve been attending Aintree hospital in Liverpool for many years for AMD and had many injections. If your appointment is purely for injections they have stopped giving dilation drops, this speeds up recovery time considerably. If you have an eye clinic appointment you will have drops prior to your scan. The staff at Aintree are first class and will try to help you in any way possible, I can highly recommend them.
Drops to dilate the eyes
? safe to wash iodine out straight away
My experience
Painful injections 
