Being pregnant can be quite a stressful process as your body will go through a lot of changes. The most common change is the increase of your body mass index (BMI) and hormonal spikes, but there are a few lesser known changes that can occur, for example in your eyes and vision. During pregnancy, some moms may experience slightly impaired or altered vision, dry-eye symptoms, or even spots and hemorrhages in the eyes. All of these changes are usually completely normal and simply part of your body adapting itself to the unborn baby. It is important to mention that the changes in vision could cause some minor problems for people wearing contact lenses, and because blurred vision can be caused by hypertension, a visit to the eye doctor will be necessary.

The reason to why your eyes change shape is because you bodily fluids, as well as your blood, go through fluctuations in pressure (likely related to hormonal changes). This usually does not cause problems, but there is a slight possibility that your vision changes, potentially blurring your eyesight.

What happens to your eyes is that they can swell, and especially the cornea. Essentially, as your eyes get swollen your contact lenses might not fit any longer and you could experience some discomfort.

Visit an eye doctor while you are pregnant. They can examine your eyes to see how much the cornea has thickened and give you a prescription for new lenses, or glasses, to wear during the pregnancy.

After you have given birth, your eyes will most likely go back to its previous shape, and your vision might be restored to “normal”. This means that you might have to switch back to your old prescription, but be sure to make an appointment with your eye doctor to see whether this applies to you.

Since there is no way to determine in advance whether or not this is going to happen to you, we have listed two solutions might help you out.

Switch to Glasses

Even though you might not feel tempted to wear glasses it could be a good, temporary, solution. Get in contact with an optician that can get you a pair of glasses with the correct optical power. After you have given birth you will most likely be able to wear contacts again.

New Contact Lenses

The second option, if you are already wearing lenses, is getting a prescription for a new set of contacts. The new lenses will be a perfect fit for the new shape of your cornea and since it takes some time for the swelling to go down you will be able to wear them for yet another couple of months after you have given birth. For some pregnant mothers however, opting for disposable contacts may be less expensive if you are experiencing continuous vision correction. You may want to lessen the number of hours you spend using your contacts per day or you can opt not wear contact lenses while pregnant.