Mydriasis disorders e.g. epilepsy, stroke, and impending brain herniation are known to lead to temporal mydriasis as well. A brain catastrophe, or a rapidly increasing brain mass, can cause compression of the oculomotor nerve. In cases of head injury or orbit trauma (eye injury), the iris sphincter (the muscle responsible for closing the pupil) or the nerves controlling it can be damaged, reducing or eliminating the normal pupillary light reflex. A mydriatic is an agent that induces dilation of the pupil. Drugs such as tropicamide are used in medicine to permit examination of the retina and other deep structures of the
Mydriasis instance, the adrenoceptor agonist phenylephrine (e.g. Cyclomydril) is used if strong mydriasis is needed for a surgical intervention. Alternatively, anticholinergics (in particular, antimuscarinics) such as atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine antagonize the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in the eye. Blocking acetylcholine receptors, reduces the pupilary muscles' ability to constrict and causes dilation (which is critical in eye surgery procedures such as cataract surgery which require uninterrupted access to the inner eye via the pupilary aperture, thus requiring that the eye be both paralyzed and anesthetized before the procedure can go ahead. The antimuscarinic, tropicamide, may be used as a mydriastic agent during