Jill N. is a member of the VSP Global Public Relations team.

In this second segment of my educational journey learning about the potential changes in my vision as a pregnant woman, Dr. Parenti shares the symptoms that, if you experience, should be addressed immediately:

Diabetes:

Women who are diabetic before their pregnancy and those who develop gestational diabetes need to watch their vision closely. Blurred vision in these cases may indicate elevated blood sugar levels and need to be addressed. However, most women who develop gestational diabetes don’t develop diabetic retinopathy.

High Blood Pressure:

In some cases, a woman may have blurry vision or spots in front of her eyes while pregnant which can be due to an increase in blood pressure during pregnancy, also known as preeclampsia and eclampsia.

Glaucoma:

Women being treated for glaucoma should tell their eye doctor right away if they are pregnant or intent to become pregnant. While many glaucoma medications are safe to take during pregnancy, certain glaucoma medications could be harmful to the developing baby.

Finally, Dr. Parenti humored me by answering a few more specific questions. Since I can’t be the only one thinking of these, I thought I’d share these as well:

So if I don’t benefit from improved vision when pregnant like some may, can I go ahead with having laser vision correction while pregnant?

Laser vision correction is not the best idea for pregnant or nursing women. You’ll want to wait until after the pregnancy and breast feeding. When you are pregnant, the cornea changes immensely. You need both a stable cornea and prescription prior to laser vision surgery to avoid complications. Even without the risk of complications, there is a risk of wasted money as your prescription could easily revert back due to the changes. It is recommended you wait at least one year after having laser vision correction before getting pregnant due to the same reasons.

Can I wear my contact lenses when I go into labor (because I assume I can plan for this, can you tell this is my first pregnancy?)?

Ideally, you should take out your contacts if already wearing them or wear your glasses if you are not. Should an emergency procedure become necessary, time would not be allowed to remove your contacts and you could risk severe dry eye or tearing of your contacts, among other things. If you absolutely must wear them, ask your doctor to fit you for an extended wear contact lens that can stay in for one or more weeks.

Any final words of advice?

A comprehensive eye exam should be included in your prenatal routine, even if you don’t require a prescription. Let your eye doctor know that you are pregnant so you can both discuss the best options for you.

Next blog – when should you bring your baby in for their first eye exam?

For more information about EyeCare Associates of San Francisco, check out their website at www.eyecaresf.com.

A key reason for the importance of annual eye exams is that the eyes are the only part of your body that provides an unobstructed view of your blood vessels.  During a comprehensive eye exam your eye doctor can observe abnormalities in these tiny blood vessels that may indicate symptoms of eye disease or systemic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. VSP network doctors have received advanced training and certification to diagnose symptoms of many medical conditions and treat some medical eye conditions.

Preventative care offers a path to early detection of serious health conditions -a key factor in managing disease, achieving the best outcomes, and ultimately reducing healthcare costs. Combined research from VSP, the U.S. Census, and the National Center for Health Statistics clearly demonstrates the important role of eye exams in preventative care. While 54 percent of the U.S. adult population has an eye exam each year, only 16 percent of the population visits a physician for preventative care. Since eye exams are three times more prevalent than physical exams, they represent an important opportunity for early detection and are a critical component in preventative care.

The eyes are truly windows into your health and a comprehensive eye exam involves a lot more than vision correction and picking the right glasses or contact lenses. As a nation looking to save every dollar we can on healthcare expenses, an annual eye exam for every person seems a reasonable and cost-effective way to make sure that we’re proactively addressing diseases before they result in major costs. Even more important than these cost savings are the lives we can make better along the way.

Eye Health Management® offers a tremendous opportunity to uncover a number of life-threatening conditions and I’m proud to say that VSP is the only eyecare provider that’s tackling this issue head on. I’ll look forward to your thoughts on how we can get more people connected to a comprehensive annual eye exam and identify other ways to generate healthcare savings in America.

Rob