My autistic son.has huge pupils.too,his.eyes.look.wild.and.it's.all the.time.

PP again, here is a link. My DC was thought to have a possible mental illness or conduct disorder in addition to other diagnoses, but it was all glucose issues due to an undetected metabolic disorder. Once that was treated and sugars were stabilized, DC's functioning improved dramatically. When we used to see huge pupils there would be a lot of the other symptoms listed at the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoglycemia

My child has a propensity towards hypoglycemia, dialated pupils is a sign. I think that the crazier behavior you see when "extra" dialated may be due to that. We didn't realize for years. You can get a blood sugar monitor at CVS and check with a simple finger stick. Stabilizing DC's blood sugar has had a huge impact on behavior, learning and language (all of those things ae negatively impacted by low blood sugar). I'd try the glucose meter (they are often on sale) and googling for signs of hypoglycemia. I'm just speaking to the "extra" dialated times, not why they might be bigger in general. Hope this info helps, it was life changing for us.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It's not natural for your pupils to be so dialated. Here is what I've found lately and it is concerning. It's always been a fear of mine that my autistic son has suffered severe brain damage, my guess is in the form of encephalitis.

http://www.bettermedicine.com/article/dilated-pupils/causes

How dilated are they? The article seems to be talking about extremely dilated (eg, almost no color showing) pupils.

My pupils have always been over-dilated (and because it is normal for me I can read text even when the eye doctor has put dilating drops in), which does make me photosensitive. I'm not on the autism spectrum and, while there is ADHD and anxiety in our family, no autism.

OP here. It's not natural for your pupils to be so dialated. Here is what I've found lately and it is concerning. It's always been a fear of mine that my autistic son has suffered severe brain damage, my guess is in the form of encephalitis.

http://www.bettermedicine.com/article/dilated-pupils/causes

I have larger than normal pupils. They appear dilated. Couldn't get lasik because of the size. I am not autistic though. Maybe he just has larger pupils?

It is sensitivity to light- taking in everything, and difficulty processing?

Does this then account for the photophobia that some kids with ASD have? My DS is super sensitive to light. Come to think of it, my pupils have always been on the larger side...but I don't have photophobia....

Anonymous wrote:My DS (19 years old) with autism has always had larger than normal pupils. His neurologist says this is pretty common with kids with autism.

OP here. Have you ever asked him why?

My DS (19 years old) with autism has always had larger than normal pupils. His neurologist says this is pretty common with kids with autism.

Well, I would definitely check with a neurologist.

His pupils are ALWAYS dialated. He does not have absence seizures.

Could it be an absence seizure? I would have that checked out. When my DD has absence seizures the pupils dilate and then after the seizure, wild behavior.

My ASD DS is 7. For as long as I can remember, or have noticed, his pupils have been dialated much more than my NT kids. It's freaky really. I've noticed that he is a bit "wilder" when they are more dialated. Just wondering if anyone has noticed the same thing.