Pregnancy or Breastfeeding

A candidate for  conventional or custom wavefront Lasik, All-Laser Lasik, PRK, LASEK, Epi-Lasik, NearVision CK, RLE, or any refractive surgery procedure should not have refractive surgery if pregnant, nursing, or expecting to become pregnant or nurse within six months of refractive surgery. If pregnant, wait at least two months after nursing is ended to have refractive surgery. In all cases, do not have refractive surgery until a stable refractive error has been achieved.

Hormones produced during pregnancy and lactation will cause most women's refractive state to fluctuate dramatically - with or without refractive surgery. If measurements to determine the amount of correction to be surgically induced are taken during this fluctuation, a false reading may occur and surgery would correct inappropriately. If fluctuation occurs during recovery, it would be impossible to tell if the refractive change is due to pregnancy or the surgery.

Another important consideration is that the drugs used to correct complications of refractive surgery may be dangerous to the pregnancy or may pass through lactation to the infant during breastfeeding. Pregnancy and nursing are contraindications for all types of elective refractive surgery.

If you are ready to choose a doctor to be evaluated for conventional or wavefront custom Lasik, All-Laser Lasik, PRK, LASEK, Epi-Lasik, NearVision CK, RLE, or any refractive surgery procedure, we highly recommend you consider a doctor who has been evaluated and certified by the USAEyes nonprofit organization. Locate a USAEyes Evaluated & Certified Lasik Laser Eye Surgery Doctor.

If this article did not fully answer your questions, use our free Ask Lasik Expert patient forum.

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Current Pregnancy Medical Journal News...

[Psychological aspects of pregnancy and prenatal diagnostics.]

Related Articles

[Psychological aspects of pregnancy and prenatal diagnostics.]

Z Geburtshilfe Neonatol. 2008 Apr;212(2):41-6

Authors: Kowalcek I, Bachmann S

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy is an extraordinary event with an impact on family life and demands a process of adaptation for the future parents. Diagnostic, as well as the therapeutic developments of prenatal diagnosis have resulted in great technical advances in the medical attendance of pregnant women in the past twenty years. Beside the medical aspects, the psychological impact on a pregnant woman and the father-to-be has to be taken into meticulous consideration. METHODS AND DISCUSSION: The expectations of prenatal diagnostics are focused towards a reducing an uncertainty concerning the pregnancy. Most pregnant women who decide to undergo prenatal diagnostics wish to confirm their vision of a healthy child or to exclude the fear that it could be unhealthy. By identifying and pointing out an unhindered foetal development, the pregnant women hope to gain security, clarity and conciliation for the course of their pregnancy. Positive implications - in particular of an ultrasound - on the firm relationship with the unborn child as well as the attitude to the pregnancy, are discussed. CONCLUSION: Carefully preparation of the parents for the diagnostic procedures, especially where expectations, anxieties and uncertainties exist, is highly recommended.

PMID: 18432555 [PubMed - in process]