Getting the eye dye at the opthamologist? Help!

[Torina]

So I'm not sure if I need an eye exam or not. I'm 38 weeks, and for a few days I have been seeing flashes. It might be the lights flickering, except my husband can't see it! I thought I only noticed it at night, but then this morning I thought I saw another flash during the daylight, but I wasn't sure. It's so quick that it's really hard to tell.

So I know that flashes in your eyes are really bad news as they could be the sign of your retina detaching, which can make you go blind. I'm pretty sure it's not pregnancy related as I just had a check up and my blood pressure was actually pretty low and I have no other symptoms of preeclampsia.

I made an appointment at the ophthalmologist for tomorrow, but then I had a sudden thought about the dye that they use to dilate the pupils. Looking it up, it apparently does cross the placenta but is considered okay if not used a lot. But now I'm worried, especially as I genuinely am not sure if this is flickering lights or my own eyes! Plus, I am due so soon that I really don't want to get Covid as my husband couldn't be there with me if I did.

Argh, this is so hard. Not sure what to do. Instinct is telling me not to go, but then I don't want to go blind if it is a sign of the retina detaching!

Has anybody had this dye and their baby has been fine? I feel paralysed about what to do!

I had a similar experience with DC2. My midwife insisted I see the Optician after I had a strange flashing across my vision when I was about 36 weeks pregnant. The optician gave me a thorough check-up and the dye - everything was fine. My eyes were fine. The baby was fine (now 9 years old and stropping about the fact I won't let him go out on his bike because it's dark!). In fact I'd totally forgotten about the whole episode until I saw this thread.

In your position I'd go and see the optician as I'm sure they'll be able to reassure you.

I had to go to the opticians last week due to persistent headaches and flashing at 30 weeks (triage ruled out pre-eclampsia before I went to the opticians). The lady I saw said that they wouldn't give me the dye whilst pregnant. She said there's no evidence to suggest it would be a concern, but it's not well researched so they just don't offer it which was fine with me.

We concluded the likely issue with me was how out of date my prescription was 🤣 I didn't really how much pregnancy could also impact eye sight as I had my eyes checked last year and there was minimal change!

I'm diabetic and have diabetic eye screening every trimester throughout pregnancy. They use the dye but a slightly diluted version which is safer in pregnancy. I'm sure they will have that available. Good luck, hopefully it's nothing serious xx

Have you discussed the visual problems with your midwife/triage at all?
Only visual disturbances can be a sign of pre-eclampsia.
May be worth getting your blood pressure and urine checked as well just to rule it out.

As for the fluroscein dye, it should actually be ok when used in pregnancy as it isnt absorbed at all. Opticians can use it in a more dilute form if necessary.

When you say you just had a check up with your midwife, how long ago exactly was that? Because i don't want to be alarmist, but at 37+5, my BP went from normal to 155/110 in the course of 48hrs and DD arrived 24hrs later in a bit of a rush! It might be worth triage having another little check over just to be sure? Your midwife might also be able to reassure you about the dye.

I had this and it lead to partial blindness. I could only see very limited almost tunnel vision. Had the dye. Went totally blind whilst it wore off. Baby was fine though. And a decade on no after effects!

This was at hospital eye dept.

Visual disturbances can also be migraines, - either with a head ache or without (visual migraine). I'd be getting that checked out as well.

I had this when I was pregnant. The optician eventually put it down to dryness in the eye and lattice degeneration (or something along those lines), turned out to be nothing to worry about, anyway.

I had the dye stuff put in and it was fine, DS is now almost 3 and he is fine. I'd go ahead with the appointment if I were you. They wouldn't do it if it wasn't safe and sensible to protect your eyesight and get answers now rather than impotency worrying about it without knowing what's going on.

The optician will know whether or not the dye can be used in pregnancy. And if you really don't want it, just tell them; they can still do most of the eye exam without it.