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...

An adequacy evaluation of a 10-year, four-country nutrition and health programme.

Related Articles

An adequacy evaluation of a 10-year, four-country nutrition and health programme.

Int J Epidemiol. 2010 Mar 3;

Authors: Berti PR, Mildon A, Siekmans K, Main B, Macdonald C

BACKGROUND: Evaluations of large-scale health and nutrition programmes in developing countries are needed for determining the effectiveness of interventions. This article critically analyses a non-governmental organization (NGO)-led large-scale, multi-country, 10-year micronutrient and health (MICAH) programme with an 'adequacy evaluation', that is, a documentation of time trends in the expected direction. METHODS: MICAH was implemented from 1996 to 2005 in selected areas of Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania, reaching >6 million people with numerous health and nutrition interventions. Coverage and impact were monitored through surveys at baseline, midpoint and end of funding. The data were subjected to post-hoc methods of quality determination, and, if of suitable quality, included in the adequacy evaluation. RESULTS: Most collected data were of moderate or high quality and therefore included in the adequacy evaluation. There were moderate to large improvements in vitamin A status in Ethiopian school-age children, children <5 years of age in Tanzania and Ghana and mothers in Ghana. Iodine status improved in Malawi and Tanzania. Anaemia rates and malaria prevalence decreased in women, pregnant women and pre-school children in Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania, but anaemia increased in Ethiopian women. Large increases were reported for rates of exclusive breastfeeding and immunization. Child growth improved to the maximum that would be predicted with the given interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Numerous nutrition and health impacts were observed in the intervention areas, often of a magnitude equal to or larger than observed in controlled interventions or trials. These results show the value of integrated long-term interventions.

PMID: 20202929 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]