avoiding myopic kids

[Abigailm1986]

I'm 23 and my husband is 26 and we both need very strong glasses or contacts.  My RX is -15 and still changing.  His is -12 and stable.  We have a 2 year old daughter and I recently got pregnant again.  What are the chances of our kids getting our eyes?  Is there anything we can do to stop it from happening?  My glasses have gotten thicker every year since I was 7.  I would like to avoid passing this problem on to our kids.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[nickppatel]

And for that we are all very grateful!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

that mark "-" means that I have read the conversation thread and do not feel a need to respond. It's like a period and is how I keep track of postings.

By the way of all the Forums on MedHelp.com the two eye postings BY FAR answers the most questions, answers questions the fastest and does follow up replys.  And we provide literally hundreds and hundreds of dollars of medical advise free

There is no other place on internet where this happens.

JCH MD

[Abigailm1986]

You sent me a blank message.  Did you mean to say something?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[Abigailm1986]

You seem very knowledgeable, though.

[dukey]

No I am not an eye professional.

[berrywoo]

Pregnancy can cause visual changes. There are many articles available on the subject, just search google. An especially comprehensive article can be found here: www.emedicine.com/oph/topic747.htm

Many of the visual changes that occur during pregnancy should subside after giving birth.

[Abigailm1986]

If the same thing happens again, my glasses will be -16.50.  Yikes!

[Abigailm1986]

Thanks for the reply.  
Are you an eye professional?

[dukey]

Yes there are examples of pregnancy (and other systemic conditions) causing an increase in myopic progression. This is pretty common actually. If you give birth naturally, the valsava-like pushing can raise your intraocular pressure significantly and because you are a high myope, this is capable of stretching your eye irreversibly, thus increasing your refraction. Most docs will not be aware of this but it is something that you need to think about.

[Abigailm1986]

I forgot to ask, is it common to get more nearsighted during pregnancy?  My glasses got -1.50 stronger during my pregnancy.  Will it happen again?  I have 5 months to go.

[Flavius G Pernoud III, MD]

Short of gene therapy which doesn't exist yet, you can't avoid it. Myopia can be dominantly inherited. There have been many schemes to stop it's progress but there is nothing definitely helpful. Myopia is caused by the eye being too long. We all start out being farsighted because our eyes are small but as we grow the eye gets larger. Hopefully, the eye stops growing at just the right point to be neither farsighted or nearsighted, but that may not happen. Have your 2 yr old examined by an EyeMD opthalmologist. She will probably not be nearsighted yet but its possible.