The test also doesn’t include the actual size and shape of your pupil or how quickly your pupils respond to light or moving objects. So if you have an abnormal test, your doctor will do more tests. It can only give your doctor clues about any disorders you may have. PERRLA doesn’t diagnose a specific condition. PERRLA is an easy way for your doctor to measure your eye health and pinpoint signs of other conditions. It can be related to certain diseases like syphilis. But the pupils have trouble closing when exposed to bright light. The affected pupil will also open slowly in dim lighting and won’t open very much.Īrgyll Robertson pupil, a condition that causes small pupils that shrink down to focus on objects nearby, which is normal. It causes a small pupil and a drooping eyelid on one side of your face. Horner’s syndrome, a rare condition that happens when something interferes with the nerve pathways that connect your brain and your face. If you need treatment, glasses and eye drops can help. One of your pupils will also be larger than the other. Your doctor will do more tests to confirm.Īdie’s pupil syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes your pupil to close slowly instead of quickly when you look at bright lights. If there’s more than a 1-millimeter difference in the size of your pupils, it might be a sign of other health issues. Most times, it’s physiologic, which means it isn’t related to any underlying health conditions. About 20% of people live with this condition. As your pupils react, they’ll check how well or poorly they focus.Īnisocoria, which means that your pupils aren’t equal in size. They’ll move it close, far away, and from side to side. Lastly, your doctor will ask you to look at their index finger or a pen.They may do this a few times to see if your pupils react to the light.
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They’ll move a small flashlight back and forth in front of your eyes while you look straight ahead. Next, they do a swinging flashlight test.First, your doctor looks at your pupil and notes if they have an odd shape or size.The PERRLA test happens in a dim room in three parts. If yours don’t adjust at all, your test results will show abnormal reaction to accommodation. Healthy pupils dilate when you look at something far away and shrink when you look at things that are near. Accommodation is your eyes’ ability to change focus. If they don’t get smaller, there might be a problem and your results will come back abnormal.Īccommodation. To test this, your doctor will shine a bright light in your eyes and watch what your pupils do.
![medical term that means unequal pupil size medical term that means unequal pupil size](https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/IMG_2666.jpeg)
When there’s too much light, your pupils close a little to protect your vision. This refers to how well your pupils react to the next steps. Healthy human pupils are perfectly round circles. If they aren’t, you doctor will do more tests to find out why. During the test, your doctor will make sure your pupils are in the right part of your eye.Įqual. They shrink or widen to control how much light gets into your eye. Pupils, which are the dark dots in the center of your eyes. The acronym “PERRLA” explains what your doctor measures when they do the test. It can help point to eye diseases and conditions that can affect your brain and nervous system. Your doctor uses it to measure how well your pupils work. You’ve probably had a PERRLA eye exam during a checkup with your doctor or before an eye exam.