# glaucoma treatment and TTC



## mogscat (Aug 6, 2014)

Hello
Does anyone else have experience of ttc while taking glaucoma eye drops?  I stopped taking mine about a year ago when I found out they contain prostaglandins and other stuff which may or may not be contraindicated for women who are TTC.  Have had a whole stream of conflicting advice from various consultants since then which has left me confused.  I had laser eye surgery (trabulectomy) to try and get round the problem but have just found out if didn't work and meanwhile my vision loss has got worse.  Now in a dilemma as it looks like I will need to go back on the eye drops and/or have surgical trabulectomy which I don't know what are the implications for TTC/pregnancy.  Meanwhile we had been planning to do DE IVF as soon as we can (currently awaiting results of partner taking sperm improving protocol and also trying to find a clinic we actually trust, having ruled out two we visited so far!!).
I suppose I am hoping someone out there can tell me they had glaucoma surgery/eye drops while TTC or pregnant and it all turned out fine!  i am very afraid at the moment I will end up partially sighted (already had driving license withdrawn) and won't even achieve a pregnancy anyway.


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## CrazyHorse (May 8, 2014)

Definitely put taking care of your eyesight first, as with glaucoma you won't regain the sight you lose.

There are several different classes of medication which can be used to treat glaucoma, as you probably know: http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/tc/glaucoma-medications. Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors are definitely contraindicated in pregnancy, but as far as I can tell the risk with the prostaglandin analogs is purely theoretical -- the eyedrops are a low-dose topical application, and the concerns about prostaglandins inducing uterine contractions are based on systemic administration.

One way to minimise systemic absorption of eyedrops (which is fine for glaucoma treatment, as you want the medication absorbed locally) is "punctal occlusion". Basically, place your finger against the inner corner of your lower eyelid and press for 3 minutes when you administer the eyedrops; this blocks the nasolacrimal duct, and reduces systemic absorption by 60% or more (http://www.aao.org/publications/eyenet/200903/feature.cfm).

If you haven't yet, I would suggest making an appointment privately with a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, who will have experience in balancing known health risks to the mother against possible risks to the fetus. Reproductive endocrinologists and ophthalmologists typically will not have the right set of experience in clinical practice to give you the best guidance in this situation. 

This post contains an unconfirmed link/information and readers are reminded that FertilityFriends.co.uk or its owners are not responsible for the content of external internet sites


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## mogscat (Aug 6, 2014)

Dear CrazyHorse
Thank you very much for this information.  This is the first time I have heard of a maternal fetal medicine specialist, I will look into these.  It's amazing what you can find out on this forum, I thought it was a long shot putting a qn about glaucoma on here (as it's normally an older person's disease... )
mogs  x


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