Having LASIK Procedure While Still Nursing

Hi, I work at San Jose TLC a Lasik vision correction center, and I’m in the same situation. I want Lasik but am still breastfeeding. Our employer offers free Lasik once we have been employed for 6 months. Well once my 6 months hit I found out I was pregnant! So my doctor recommended I wait. Here, Dr. Furlong says to wait 2 months after you have had your baby or are done nursing. I have been nursing for 6 1/2 months, I think im done. The steroid we give patients is Flarex can be transmitted in Milk and isn’t good for babies. Hormones do change during pregnancy and nursing which may change your prescription. You need to be stable with your prescription to have the best results! However if your prescription is the same through out the pregnancy and nursing we do offer surgery to patients but instead of giving them the steroid we give them Xibrom instead. Do more research and make sure your doctor is aware you are nursing and don’t want the steroid. Also be aware of the sedative they offer before the surgery, we offer Adivan which is light and ok for nursing mothers but not sure what others offer. Good luck!!

All the advice so far is right. I would wait and I would also be concerned about a facility that said only 2 weeks would be enough to have surgery after stopping breastfeeding. The surgery is very precise and not something to take lightly. I was all set to have it done 3 years ago and found out I was pregnant and waited until after I had stopped breastfeeding several months. I highly recommend the UC Berkeley Eye Center. They were very professional and careful. Good luck I love my new eyes. It was worth the wait!

I had Lasik on both my eyes as soon as I was finished breast feeding (and the feeding had to be over by more than a few months) and it turned out very well for me. I think it has little to do with the eyedrops being passed to the baby through your milk. It has everything to do with breastfeeding changing fluid balances in your body frequently and that subtly affects the shape of your eyeball and the curve of your cornea. They want your vision to be as stable as possible before burning away corneal layers, and if that is in flux, the results of the surgery are not going to be as predictable or as successful as they would like it to be. If continuing to breastfeed is very important to you, then put off the surgery till you are finished. I know many people who've had successful eye surgery, and a few where it did not go so well. Trust me. You want to make sure you do everything you can to ensure complete and total success. In the rare instance where things do go wrong, you could be left with life long vision problems.

I had the LASIK done last year when my daughter was 18 mos and still nursing. My doctor was not concerned. He explained that their idea of "breastfeeding" is several times a day for a 6mos or younger baby and that nursing my 18 m.o. 3 times a day would not have an effect on the surgery or the antibiotic. That seems to be counter to the advise given below, but he is VERY experienced, I had no problems whatsoever, and several (ok, 3) moms I know have had this procedure done while nursing toddlers.

I was going to go for Lasik while I was breastfeeding and they told me the same thing. The problem is that our vision changes while pregnant and nursing. They want you to stop nursing for a period of time so that your vision has time to adjust. If you get the Lasik while you are pregnant or nursing, there is a possibility that it will not be an accurate fix because of this. Hormones make everything in your body do weird things when you are pregnant and nursing, and your eyes are no exception :). I would recommend waiting so that you don't have to end up going back in for a re-do.

I waited until I was done nursing.

I would go straight to a Lactation Consultant, but from what I understand, there is some belief that the hormones involved in breastfeeding change your eye sight slightly. That said, at your point in your nursing career, I would suspect that your hormonal changes are very slight (you have your period back, correct?) and would not pose any difficulty in the surgery.
I nursed my daughter until she was 3.5 year and am currently nursing my son while on the drug Remicade. It took a lot of fighting and digging, but I found out that the drug Remicade is far too huge to pass into my breastmilk. The point is, do not take what the drs say at face value unless they are well trained lactation consultants.

If it was me, I would keep on nursing :)

I run the Cape Cod Breastfeeding Moms Club (on Facebook) and I own My Mamma's Milk (http://www.mymammasmilk.com)

I would refer to this site (go on as a visitor) whenever you need a drug while nursing. http://neonatal.ttuhsc.edu/lact/medicationforumspage.html