The Cycloplegic Effect of Atropine

ABSTRACT

Atropine is known as one of the strongest cycloplegics,But its side-effects often limits its use only to the patient of strabismus and to the children below five. The purpose of this study is to find a way to apply atropine with reduced side effects. We examined twenty children below 6 years of age who are commonly considered to have strong hyperopic refractive capability or squints. Their eyes were examined 60 minutes and 90 minutes after administring a drop of atropine twice with five minutes' interval. For three days afterwards, Atropine was applied three times a day. And the results was examined with Cannon Autorefractometer. Refractive error after the single dose application(90 minutes) showed more hyperopia by +0.2 diopter than conventional three day application(P>0.05), and it has no statistical significance between the measurement after 60 and 90 minutet(P>0.15). It was also found that twenty nine eyes(72.5%) showed less than 0.5 diopter difference between both methods. No central nervous toxicity was found in both applications, while peripheral toxicity was found less in the single-dose application(10%) than conventional three-day application(30%). So for the practical purpose the refractive data evaluated after 90 minutes atropinization can be used as a basis for the prescription of glasses.