Title
DOES WOMEN'S VISION CHANGE DURING PREGNANT? CORNEA AND PREGNANCY
Introduction
Pregnancy is a time of intense changes in a women's body, during which the hormonal system is being rebuilt. These changes also affect the organ of vision, which has been studied by many researchers. Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the values of corneal keratometry parameters, central corneal thickness (CCT) and depth of anterior chamber (ACD) of healthy pregnant women before and after natural birth.
Methods
Material: The observational study examined the eyes of 109 healthy women (218 eyes) aged 25 to 35 years old. The pregnant women underwent two physical examinations. one in the third trimester at 36th week of gestation, and at the end of 6th week after labour. Women with a twin pregnancy, with refractive error > ±4,00 D sph, with eye diseases and the history of eye surgeries were excluded from the study. In order to unify the research group only patients that delivered naturally were analysed. The patients underwent imaging examination of anterior segment of the eye using the Scheimpflug camera (Pentacam system). The following parameters were analysed: flat parameter (K1), steep parameter (K2), central corneal thickness (CCT), depth and angle of the anterior chamber. Results were obtained with statistical analysis using the t-student test.
Results
Results: A decrease in CCT (p = 0.01) and decrease in values of the iridocorneal angle (p <0.01) were observed in patients after delivery in comparison to values from examination in 36th HBD. Remaining parameters did not change.
Discussion
Conclusions: Decreased values of central corneal thickness and iridocorneal angle may be associated with an rapid reduction of the level of sex hormones after childbirth. The evaluation of these parameters is important to the treatment of ophthalmic diseases during pregnancy such as glaucoma. A more detailed explanation of the variability of parameters of the cornea during pregnancy requires further research.
Keywords
pregancy; cornea; anterior chamber of the eye; parturition; keratometry
Area
CLINICAL CASE
Authors
Karol Taradaj, Tomasz Ginda, Bożena Kociszewska-Najman, Piotr Maciejewicz, Dariusz Tadeusz Kęcik