I had my dilated eye exam last Thursday. My pupil size was 5mm. This sounds silly, but I can't believe they are so small! Could the doctor have made a measurement mistake?

The reason I question this result is because when they dilated my eyes, my vision didn't get very blurry. I have had my eyes dilated a couple times in the past for other exams, and I can remember my vision being quite a bit blurrier during these other times. Is it possible that they did not put enough dilation drops in my eye?

Are the pupils usually re-measured on the day of surgery, or can I request to have it done before the surgery? I wasn't too concerned, but after reading about how important it is to know your exact pupil size, I'm beginning to get really nervous!

Left eye: -3.25 -1.75
Right eye: -1 -2.75

Pupil measurements are performed before eye drops are placed, and the measurement is of the pupil size in darkness and light. The importance of this measurement is that at night time, the pupil dilates naturally - and it is important for any laser treatment on the cornea to have a wider ablation zone than the night time pupil size.
5 mm is on the small size - so you should certainly ask your doctor to meaure the pupil size in darkness prior to surgery. I do know of a number of cases where the pupil size was not measured prior to surgery, and this has lead to a number of post-LASIK problems

Best of luck

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL