From Anna Lowenstein, Zagarolo, Italy:
        There was a posting recently from a woman who had vision problems
while breastfeeding. You may like to know that here in Italy, until
recently, shortsighted women were often advised not to breastfeed. I don't
know if any doctors or oculists are still giving this advice to their
patients, but certainly the idea is still very widespread. (Only this
morning I had to reassure a pregnant woman who wanted to know whether
breastfeeding would damage her eyes.)
         In LLL Italy, we have a leaflet on this topic written by one of our
group leaders, Sheri Khan. She is not on Lactnet, but she forwarded me the
following letter:
"There is a belief here in Italy that if a mother is myopic she should
not nurse or her sight will get worse and her retina might even detatch.
For years I answered questions from mothers who had been told by their
gynecs and more rarely, opticians, that since they were myopic
(sometimes only barely so, but often fron -8 onwards) they shouldn't
breastfeed. I finally managed to collect enough scientific literature
(not easy at all) and mothers' testimonials and write an article for our
member's letter, in Italian. Of course there is no truth to it. I have
heard that this belief is also prevalent in parts of Russia and Bolivia.
The article has been reprinted as a leaflet, and despite the fact that
more and more docs say it's OK for a myopic mother to BF, the leafet
sells steadily. I just wonder, if there IS a temporary weakness or
hormonal state that is more pronounced in some women, especially in the
first few days after a baby is born. Unfortunately, our leaflet is in
Italian, so unless you understand it ....
"There is evidence that due to hormonal changes, which can also cause
edema, and lack of lacrimation, etc pregnant or nursing mothers will
have trouble with contact lenses. Increased thickness of cornea,
modifications in its curvature etc are some changes I have heard about."