Pregnancy And Contact Lenses – Maintaining Comfort
Pregnancy can cause all sorts of discomfort throughout those nine long months. One thing that you would never imagine would be affected is your eyes. If you wear contact lenses, you may begin to experience new discomforts that you have never gone through before.
Why can contact lenses begin to be uncomfortable during pregnancy?
Hosting another being in your body creates all sorts of irregularities in your blood and fluid pressures throughout your body. The change in pressure can actually cause your eyes to swell – not so much that your eyes begin to bulge like your ankles, but enough that wearing your contact lenses becomes uncomfortable.
What affects does the change in pressure have on your contact lenses?
Increased pressure in your eyes results in a changing cornea shape. When your eye doctor performs an exam to write your contact lens prescription, the cornea shape is one measurement that is taken to ensure a proper fit. This can cause the contact lenses to feel as if you have a hair in your eye or cause your vision to be less clear than it should be.
What can you do to improve comfort during pregnancy?
If you want to continue wearing your contact lenses during your pregnancy, schedule an exam with your eye doctor. He or she will take new measurements of your eyes and write a new prescription for lenses that fit your eyes as they should.
Will the swelling go down?
Eventually, after you have the baby, the blood and fluid pressures in your body will re-regulate to what they once were. This should result in the normalization of the cornea size and require another appointment with your eye doctor for measurements and a new exam.
Are there other problems pregnancy can cause with contact lenses?
At the very least, the change in your body's hormones can cause your eyes to dry out more quickly than they used to. If you wear monthly or weekly lenses, you might want to change to daily wear lenses during your pregnancy. These lenses provide you with clearer, cleaner vision and don't dry out your eyes as quickly as the longer-wear lenses do.
It's always a good idea to make an appointment with your eye doctor anytime you experience any changes in your vision or level of comfort while wearing your contact lenses. Your pregnancy shouldn't prevent you from wearing your contact lenses, but a quick exam can help identify any potential problems so that they can be resolved.
To learn more about contact lenses, contact a company like Martin Eye Clinic, P.C.