Swelling During Pregnancy

This affects your eyes too! The fact that your eyes, more specifically the cornea, might thicken, could lead to discomfort for people wearing contact lenses. The reason why your eyes can swell is the same as the reason why your feet and hands might swell too. Hormonal spikes can cause fluctuations in blood and body fluid pressures. You cannot actually predict whether this will happen or not, but usually falls with in the range of normal pregnancy symptoms. However, if you regularly wear contact lenses, you may experience dry and itchy eyes, blurry vision, or slight discomfort when wearing your contacts, to the point where they are so ill-fitting that they may even fall out.

It is recommended that you visit an eye doctor at least two or three times during your pregnancy as he or she can run vision tests to see if the shape of your eyes have changed, and, if so, by how much. After the examination you will get a prescription for new contact lenses that will be of the right optical strength and size.

After you have given birth, your eyes will most likely go back to their original shape, meaning that your old prescription and contact lenses are applicable again.

Here’s what you can do if your eyes have changed shape during your pregnancy.

Get a New Prescription

Simply get a new prescription for contact lenses that you can wear while you are pregnant. Book an appointment at a local eye clinic where they can determine how much your vision has changed and prescribe you lenses that will be custom-fitted. Because it will take some time after pregnancy before your eyes return to normal, you can wear these lenses for quite some time.

Switch to Glasses

The second alternative that you will have is switching to regular glasses. It is important that you visit an eye clinic as the glasses need to have the correct optical power, which, due to the thickening of the cornea, has probably changed as well. If you wish, you could always go back to wearing lenses again after you have given birth as the swelling will most likely go down.

Sources:
Chris O. Imafidon. (1992). Contact Lenses in Pregnancy. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 99, 865¬-868
Park SB et al. (1992). The Effect of Pregnancy on Corneal Curvature, The CLAO Journal, Oct; 18(4), 256-259