Wait 6 mos. to become pregnant after Lasik?

[krystalleigh1]

So I go in for a Lasik consultation, go through the whole process to see if I'm a canidate, and go home with a little booklet of info. to look over.

In this booklet it says that if you are considering becomming pregnant within 6 months of having Lasik you are probablly not a good canidate. WTH? My eye Dr. never mentioned anything about becomming pg after the procedure. I can totally understand why you wouldn't be a canidate if you had Lasik WHILE pg, but up to 6 mos. after?

It's not like I'm pushing to get pg, but my dh and I were planning on getting pg hopefully withing the next year or so. It may be 3 months, it may be 9 months, or more, but I like to have that option. Anyone else hear of not becomming pg for 6 months following lasik?

BTW-I called my eye Dr. and got a pretty non-committal answer from her. She gave me a very vague answer that neither told me it was ok or not ok. So frustrating!

 

[LadyShea]

Probably a case of over-caution due to the possibility of complications. They are likely to happen in the first 6 months and if you needed a second surgery or medications they wouldn't want you to be pregnant.

 

[scrapquitler]

As I remember, my vision changed drastically during my pregnancies, and think I've heard that vision changes are a common thing for pregnant women. Perhaps the suggestion of no pregnancy for 6 months is so that all the positive changes of the LASIK won't be undone by possible vision changes during pregnancy. Wouldn't it suck to go thru the Lasik then have your vision get worse during your pregnancy?? I'd probably call the doctor and specifically ask.

Most likely its also another case of them being over-cautious. Noone wants to be responsible for anything happening to a pregnant woman.

 

[allyphoe]

I can totally understand why you wouldn't be a canidate if you had Lasik WHILE pg, but up to 6 mos. after?

Scientifically demonstrated increased chance of getting bad results. AFAIK, there's no well-demonstrated theory of *why* that is, but it is. Best guess appears to be that your eyes need time to fully recover from the procedure in order to hold up to the stresses that pregnancy puts on your eyes.

(You may recall that I was the one saying there appeared to be no scientific basis for delaying LASIK while nursing an older child. I looked at a bunch of studies that mentioned pregnancy while researching that. There *is* a scientific basis for delaying pregnancy after LASIK.)

 

[Minniemouse07]

My eye dr (who also happens to do lasik as well) told me that I had to wait until 6mo after I stopped nursing. Said that the hormone levels were different during lactation and it "could" have an effect on the procedure.

It is a delicate enough procedure, I'm not going to go against a recommendation like that!

 

[MaidMarian]

I'm not sure if this is related, but I remember while I was pregnant, the doctor said not to get a new contact prescription cause your eyes may become slightly larger during pregnancy and the hormones cause vision change