At Moorfields we are proud to be able to offer cutting edge facilities, equipment and technologies for our research. During your research visits you will probably have a number of different tests on a number of different machines. These machines might be kept in the Children’s hospital (RDCEC) or the Moorfields CRF.
Get ready!
Your visit might involve walking between departments (which are next to each other on Level 2) or going up and down to different floors of the Children’s Hospital.
It is important to remember that the tests and assessments we do for research are different to those we do in the NHS eye hospital clinics. Sometimes they take longer and may need repeated. Sometimes they are more detailed. There will be a set of instructions the research team have to follow (called a protocol), to make sure everybody does the tests the same for every child. Please talk to us about how you / your child experiences the research tests.
You can learn about some of the common tests children and young people complete in research at Moorfields, from our ‘Test and Assessment Directory for Children and Young People’. This information tells you why we do some of the common tests, what you have to do, and what it will feel like doing the test.
Dilating eye drops
Sometimes before an eye test can be done, we will need to use dilating eye drops to make your / your child’s pupils bigger (the black bit in the middle of the eye). This helps us see the back of the eye.
You / your child will tip their head back and the researcher will drop a small amount of liquid (it looks like water) into each eye. These drops make the pupils—the black circles in the middle of the eyes—get really big.
The eye drops can feel stingy for about 5 seconds, then watery for another 5 seconds and then your eyes usually feel ok again. The drops take about 20-30 mins to work and can make everything a bit blurry for about four hours (sometimes more or less than four hours). Your eyes can feel sensitive in bright lights, so bringing sunglasses or a hat can be useful for the journey home. Lots of children have these drops put in at the eye hospital. Try not to worry - but if you are worried - tell us and we can support you.
Support for tests
If you / your child are worried about any of the tests, we have our research health play specialist at Moorfields who can help you (no matter how old you are!). Ask us if the play specialist is around during your visit, or tell us in advance and we can book them in.
Remember you always have the choice to stop a test at any point. You can pause a test, or take a break, or end a test at any time.
When you are doing your tests, we want you to be as relaxed as possible. Your parent can be with you for all the tests you do. If, at any time, you or your parent prefer your parent to wait outside, let us know and we can arrange for one of our team to come in with you instead. We want you to feel as relaxed as possible so we can measure your eyes correctly. Tell us what works best for you.
You will have breaks between tests. Tell us if your breaks are too long, too short or just right? Also tell us if you need breaks midway during the tests. We want to help you be able to do the tests as well as you can, and for you to feel relaxed.
