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Have Epiretinal Membrane And Accommodative Insufficiency. Will It Get Blurred Vision After Delivery?

Posted on Mon, 15 Apr 2013

Question: Hi, I have a condition called Epiretinal Membrane and also Accomodative insufficiency. I would need to know if this condition could be affected by labor, where it could get worse since I am 29 weeks pregnant now. Therefore, I have to decide if I want a C-section or vaginal delivery. This condition makes the vision in my left eye slightly more blurry but I am in the initial stage so hopefully it will stay like that. That is why I need to know if labor could make it worse. Thanks

Answered by Dr. Mihir Shah (16 hours later)

Dear,

Thanks for the query.

EMMs can be associated with a variety of ocular conditions, such as posterior vitreous detachments (PVD), retinal tears, retinal detachments, retinal vascular occlusive diseases, ocular inflammatory diseases, and vitreous hemorrhage. However, a large proportion does not occur in the context of any associated disease or known history and therefore are classified as idiopathic epimacular membranes (IEMM). Idiopathic and postdetachment membranes are the most common EMMs.

You are probably having an idiopathic(without any cause) epiretinal membrane.

Be assured that labor will not worsen your epiretinal membrane. So you should opt for a normal vaginal delivery.

I hope I have answered your query.

Best regards,
Dr.Mihir Shah

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Mihir Shah (9 minutes later)

Thank you very much doctor, this was very important for me. So just to confirm, I know sometimes straining and pushing could worsen eye conditions. For example, if something is partially detached, pushing or straining could detach it more. But I guess in case of my EMM (which I think is idiopathic since I don't have any of the other diseases you listed), this cannot happen, right? I guess this is more of an inflamation of a membrane, not partial detachment, so straining does not affect the condition? Since even if there is the smallest risk, I could simply opt for C-section. My eyes are very important for me as part of my job, so I cannot afford to make this condition worse. Thanks again for the detailed explanation.

Answered by Dr. Mihir Shah (1 hour later)

Dear,
Thanks for writing back.
It is just a membrane. There is no detachment.
There is absolutely no risk with a normal delivery.

Best regards,
Dr.Mihir Shah

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar