Test Kit Challenged

As an ophthalmologist and also the father of a 17-year-old who is just completing a three-year in-patient drug abuse recovery program, I was simply aghast and amazed at the article in the View section on June 6 that says an eye test kit is being marketed by Athletes for a Strong America, a “nonprofit” group (“Keeping an Eye on Kids” by Marcida Dodson). This test sells for $49.95 and involves a flashlight that retails for $1. I assume the remaining $48.95 is for instructions. If this is truly a nonprofit group, the instructions could have been printed in your article.

I challenge the test reliability anyway. It is generally true that cocaine and uppers tend to enlarge the pupils and that marijuana and heroin tend to make the pupils smaller. Also marijuana tends to make the eyes red. This is only a general trend and certainly does not happen in every child. Visine dilates the pupils--a person can put Visine in one eye and watch his pupil become larger as compared to the fellow eye. It will stay that way for approximately an hour.

A child whose pupils may be somewhat smaller because he has been smoking marijuana, when subjected to a test by an authority figure such as a parent, will obviously be frightened and fright itself will dilate the pupils.

I have great respect for Dr. Forrest Tennant, but I was amazed that not one ophthalmologist was asked to participate in the “scientific” article, especially since the article originated in Orange County. Dr. Irving Leopold of UC Irvine is one of the foremost authorities on drugs and the eye in the United States. I would appeal to Dr. Tennant to consult an ophthalmologist before he gives his blessing to the “Rapid Eye Check.”

MATTHEW A. BERNSTEIN

Professor of Ophthalmology, USC School of Medicine