What to Expect When You’re Expecting: Pregnancy’s Impact on Your Eyes
Pregnancy is an exciting time, and a period of many changes in a mother’s body. Drastic changes to hormone levels, fluid retention, metabolic changes, increase in blood volume and alteration to vessels can all impact vision in a variety of ways.
Extra fluid retained in the cornea can increase corneal thickness and cause minor alterations to prescription which is one reason why vision can seem to change during pregnancy. For this reason it is likely best to delay updating prescriptions until after delivery and even wait until you’re done nursing. If you really feel like you need to change your lenses, or really want that cute new pair of specs, just know that a change to vision in the postpartum period is likely to happen. For this reason refractive surgery (ie. LASIK) is not recommended when you’re pregnant.
Attention contact lens wearers: fluid retained in the cornea can also cause its curvature to change. This can alter the fit of contact lenses and make them a little less comfortable. Another reason why some soon-to-be mama’s find themselves unable to wear their contact lenses is because there is an increase in dry eye symptoms during pregnancy. Research suggests that this has to do with how hormones affect our tear production.
Have you heard of “pregnancy mask”? Unfortunately this isn’t a moisturizing facial treatment, but instead a common condition where there is a darkening of the skin around the eyes or other parts of the face during pregnancy. This, again, is a result of increasing levels of pregnancy hormones. Aren’t hormones fun?
We’ve all heard of gestational diabetes, but did you know that diabetes can also affect the health of the eyes? Luckily this form of diabetes that (for some) occurs during pregnancy is not likely to cause ocular health problems. However - if you already have diabetes before becoming pregnant and have diabetic retinopathy (damage to retinal blood vessels) there is a risk of that damage getting worse. Be sure to seek regular checkups with your optometrist if this is the case for you.
Preeclampsia is high blood pressure during pregnancy. Just like high blood pressure outside of pregnancy, there is a possibility that changes to the health of the eyes can occur. If you are diagnosed with preeclampsia be sure to see your Optometrist. Luckily, many of the retinal changes that can occur with preeclampsia return to normal once the condition has resolved.
Most of the changes discussed above are mild, and your eyes and vision will return to normal after the delivery of your little bundle of joy (or after nursing if you choose to!). Just remember, if you do experience any change to vision no matter how small, always make an appointment with your Optometrist to get it checked out. In the meantime, enjoy this exciting new chapter in your life!