INFORMATION FOR WOMEN WHO HAVE MYOPIA DURING PREGNANCY OR BREASTFEEDING

What is myopia during pregnancy?

Myopia, also called nearsightedness, is a type of refractive error, a condition of the eye in which the refraction (bending) of light rays does not give you the optimal image. Specifically, in myopia, light is refracted through the cornea and lens in a way that makes them focus (come to a point) in front of the retina, instead of exactly on the retina, the part of eye where optical images are converted into electrical signals that travel through a series of neurons (nerve cells) to the visual cortex in the brain. This can happen, either because the cornea is too curved and/or the eyeball is too long. The result is that you can see close objects clearly, but distant objects appear blurry. If you are myopic, in all likelihood, you have been myopic since long before pregnancy. However, myopia is an issue for pregnancy, because the changes in the body and various hormones due to pregnancy are thought to modify the geometry of the eye as pregnancy advances.