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Drops placed on your eyes relax the iris, the colored part of your eye, which makes the pupil, the opening in the middle of the iris that admits light into the eye, widen so your doctor can more completely examine the inside of your eye. This allows your doctor see the back of your eye more clearly. This process helps your doctor detect diabetes, tumors, retinal detachment, high blood pressure, macular degeneration and a variety of other issues in their early stages. Although eye dilation makes your eyes sensitive to bright light for a few hours after an exam, itâs a worthy prevention effort. By detecting some of these issues earlier on, dilation could help save your vision and overall health.
Rating Newest Oldest. Best Answer: It depends on the kind of drops that the Dr. uses and how your eyes react to them. Usually they will stay dilated 3-5 hours, but you will be sensitive to the light for almost 6 hours. Everyone is different. When I get my eyes dilated they tend to stay dilated for almost 12 hours. There is a drop that the Dr. can use to return your pupil to normal in about 30 minutes, but it puts a lot of stress on your eyes so they don't recommend it.