When you get pregnant, chances are you think about medical needs like seeing an obstetrician, taking folic acid, and generally taking care of your health. However, many pregnant women don't realize that getting their eyes examined should be a part of this process, too. Here's why you shouldn't skip taking care of your eyes.
Vision Changes
Believe it or not, it's quite common for women to experience vision changes temporarily while they're pregnant. Due to the hormonal shifts in the body required to support the fetus, your vision can change significantly while you're pregnant.
In general, it's a good idea to get your eyes examined to ensure that everything looks healthy and to get a new prescription for vision correction if you need it.
Need for Glasses
If you typically wear contact lenses, you may be surprised to notice that something doesn't feel right when you try to wear them after getting pregnant.
Believe it or not, pregnancy can have an impact on the curvature of your eye's natural lens. Since your contacts are designed to fit the shape of this lens perfectly, any alteration can make contacts slide around or the vision correction appear wrong, even if your prescription hasn't changed.
As a result, it's a good idea to order a new pair of glasses to wear while you're pregnant. If you need a new prescription, this pair of glasses can be your holdover until you deliver your child. Thankfully, like with vision changes, the curvature of the eye changing typically only lasts while you're actively pregnant.
After Pregnancy
Once you've delivered your child, there's a good chance that your eyes will go right back to the way that they were. You'll be able to go back to wearing contacts, and you likely won't need the new prescription that you received while pregnant. However, you shouldn't skip over having your eyes examined at least one more time after you've delivered your child.
This eye examination will serve to ensure that your eyes have properly reverted to their prior state. In some cases, women end up needing a different vision prescription than what they had prior to getting pregnant and during their pregnancy, so you may need some replacement lenses for your glasses or a new pair of contacts, too.
If you haven't seen an eye doctor yet for an exam, make the call and get an eye exam done soon. Ensuring that your eyes are healthy will make sure that you're able to see the bright future your child has ahead of them.
When you look in the mirror and focus on your eyes, what do you see? Hopefully you see a strong and vibrant person — someone who enjoys and embraces life. Hopefully you also see a set of healthy eyes, although that can be tough to determine just with a glance in the mirror. Eyes can look healthy on the surface when really something sinister is going on inside of them. That's one reason why visiting the eye doctor is so important.
If you would like to learn more about eye health, optometrists, and even contact lenses, you've come to the right place. We curated the articles on this website very carefully to provide you with the best information on these topics.