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Stroke, injury and traumaĪny damage on the eye or brain can cause pinpoint pupils on one or both eyes, which could be a sign of internal problems. Treatments that require miotic drugs like pilocarpine, which is used to treat glaucoma and dry mouth, can also cause miosis, as well as medications for hypertension, particularly clonidine and tetrahydrozoline. The same can also be said for substance abuse such as an overdose of heroin, barbiturates, tobacco, and other drugs. Oftentimes, prescription drugs for pain relief, such as opioids, can cause pinpoint pupils. So, what happens when your pupils are smaller than usual, or stay small even under dim light? Then it may be the result of one of the conditions below. Whereas in a relaxed state, they shrink back to their natural size. For example, when triggered by something that scares or excites you, your pupils get bigger. Lastly, pupils may also shift in size depending on your emotional state. When looking at nearby objects, our pupils involuntary shrink, while zeroing in on a faraway object causes our pupils to dilate.

Besides lighting and the natural aging process, there are also other factors that affect pupil size, such as the distance of the object that we’re focusing on.

How much the pupil constricts or dilates in response to light will also vary as you age, as studies have shown that pupil size is largest at adolescence, but gradually shrinks throughout adulthood. To give you a better picture, an adult pupil should measure 2 – 4 mm under bright light, and approximately 4 – 8 mm in low light. On the other hand, the pupils dilate (or get larger) at night time or under low lighting to help us see better in the dark. For instance, when exposed to direct sunlight or any bright light, the pupils constrict (or shrink) to restrict the amount of light that enters. It’s not something that you can consciously control or feel, though you might notice changes in your vision. This is our body’s natural way of regulating the light that enters our eyes throughout the day. How do our pupils normally change size?Īs you may already know, our pupils are intrinsically designed to change in size depending on our surroundings. This is medically known as miosis or myosis, which comes from the Greek word ‘muein’ or ‘to close the eyes’. Pinpoint pupils (AKA small pupils) are exactly what they sound like: pupils that appear abnormally small (or below 2 mm) in normal lighting conditions.