Twenty-seven Hong Kong Chinese children, aged 3 to 5 1/2 years, were recruited in this study to evaluate the relation between refractive error as measured retinoscopically before and after cycloplegia using cyclopentolate 1%. The noncycloplegic spherical refractive error of these children ranged from -0.75 to +2.50 D and approximately 98% of the Hong Kong pre-school children have a manifest spherical error within this range. The cycloplegic refractive error can be approximated by multiplying the spherical component of the manifest error by 1.45 and adding +0.39 D to the product, while keeping the astigmatic power and axis unchanged. Cyclopentolate 1% requires more time to produce mydriasis and cycloplegia in eyes with heavily pigmented irides; however, its final effect on refractive error is apparently independent of iris pigmentation and depends on the amount of spherical refractive error present.