Did your eyesight change during pregnancy? Share your thoughts with Vision Direct – you could WIN a Kindle Fire HDX & £50 Amazon voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

The team at Vision Direct would love to hear how pregnancy has impacted on your contact lens & glasses wearing habits.

Vision Direct say: “As the UK’s biggest online provider of contact lenses and eye care products, Vision Direct is here to help you enjoy comfortable, healthy vision for less. Our fast delivery, low prices and 7 days a week UK-based customer service are all designed to make things a little easier to manage during the busiest times. Pregnant women often find their eyes change due to shifting hormones and metabolic rates or water-retention (no one’s favourite pregnancy symptom!) We’re always here to help should you need to change your lenses, and you can return them quibble-free."

How has your pregnancy altered the way you wear glasses or contact lenses? Did you find that your eyes were drier and if so, did you try eye drops? Maybe you invested in a new pair of glasses or changed the type of contacts you wear, or perhaps nothing much changed for you.

Share your thoughts – whether your eyesight changed or not Vision Direct want to hear from you; even if you don’t wear glasses or contact lenses.

Everyone who posts a comment will be entered into a prize draw to win a Kindle Fire HDX tablet and a £50 Amazon voucher for filling it with apps, games, movies & music!

Please note that Vision Direct may use your comments – anon of course- on their MN pages, social media or possibly elsewhere; only post if you’re happy with this.

Thanks,
MNHQ

PS: Get 10% off your first order of contact lenses at Vision Direct using coupon code MUMS44

[Passamaquoddy]

Throughout all of my pregnancies I experienced a change in vision - just ever so slightly. I also had VERY dry eyes and used drops suitable for contact lens wearers.
When I posed this problem to my optician they told me that it was rubbish and made me feel a bit silly to be honest so I am really glad that vision direct are acknowledging this!

[iwantavuvezela]

I have been wearing contact lenses for almost 20 years. However, I found that wearing contact lenses became very difficult (felt as if my eye shape had changed) when I was pregnant - something felt different and they were no longer comfortable. I shifted over to wearing glasses, and have not really gone back to contacts since pregnancy! The only problem with glasses was that my daughter, as a baby/toddler would pull them off my face!

[ChucksAhoy]

Between 8-12 weeks I got eyeball headaches that I normally only get when my prescription needs renewing.

I had also started wearing contact lenses before becoming pregnant but found these made the eyeball headaches worse, so have gone back to just glasses for the remainder of my pregnancy

[babster]

This is the first time I've heard that pregnancy can affect your eyesight! I had no problems in my three pregnancies. Once my children were born, I stopped wearing contact lenses and wore my glasses - partly because of tired eyes (and the horrible feeling when you fall asleep wearing contacts), partly because I didn't fancy touching my eyes with the same hands that changed nappies. Sure I washed them, but I couldn't shake off the ewwww feeling!

[blondegirl73]

Mine did during my second pregnancy. My contact lenses didn't fit properly any more. I have astigmatism and they weren't settling in the right place in my eye. It took several appointments with the optician, (and lots of patience from my optician who was brilliant), many trial lenses and a whole YEAR before I finally got it sorted out. I think if I hadn't been so devoted to my lenses, and my optician hadn't been so determined to get it right, I'd have given up and gone back to glasses!

[FeelingSmurfy]

Yes but my eyesight always gets worse when my asthma steroids go up as they did during that time. I wear glasses all of the time but was struggling with them at that point and couldn't get new prescription as it knew it was temporary (and they would then be too strong when steroids reduced)

[CopperPan]

I usually wear contact lenses all day but I found I could only tolerate them for short periods when pg. I would only wear them to go out but take them out as soon as I got home as my eyes would get too dry. My prescription might have changed slightly as well - I found it was harder to read distant signs, although I never had an eye test done and just managed with it.

[GooodMythicalMorning]

I dont think it affected my sight but I didnt have my eyes tested whilst I was pregnant so cant say for certain.

[katyk81]

My eyesight changed significantly with my son during my first pregnancy - I had a complete change of prescription and my shortsightedness worstened for the first time in many years. The optician told me this was quite common.

I was worried I would get worse again the next time I was pregnant as my prescription is already quite strong but luckily with my daughter I didn't notice any change and when I had my annual eye test my vision remained the same.

I have just had my third child (he is five weeks) and whilst I didn't notice anything during pregnancy I am now noticing a lot of headaches, I seem to squint a bit and am finding glare hard work when I am driving so I think it will be back to the opticians for me! One thing I did notice this time was black dots in front of my eyes- because I had pre-eclampsia in my previous pregnancy I went straight to the day unit but my blood pressure remained fine, I have mentioned this to a couple of midwives and the consultant and no one seemed to concerned even though this was new for me but will probably bring it up at my eye appointment.

[Theimpossiblegirl]

That's really interesting. I had no idea eyesight changed during pregnancy but after having children I got my first glasses. I put my deteriorating eyesight down to getting older/less sleep etc.

[Buglk87]

During my pregnancy I had really bad headaches, discovered after baby that my prescription in my glass had changed and got slightly worse so had to get a new prescription in my glasses. It was only slightly but I now wear my glasses a lot more and have less headaches now. ??

[CheeseEMouse]

My eyesight didn't change in pregnancy and I had no side effects from my lenses. However now I have 2 children, both of which are under 2 and the elder one enjoys snaffling my glasses, I can see I am going to wear my lenses more frequently!

[Eva50]

My eyesight didn't really change although I did have an episode of blurred vision during my second pregnancy. My GP referred me to the eye clinic but nothing was found.

[01818118181]

My eyesight changed in my second pregnancy. Not noticeable to me, but a standard sure test took ages and they kept repeating the test where they puff your you eye with a little shot of air- very unpleasant (wasn't in vision express!) anyway got referred to hospital with suggestion of developing glaucoma. At hospital got told it was a minor change in eyesight that was normal in pregnancy and that I was fine!
Fair to say I didn't go back to the original optician after 20 mins of pointless uncomfortable tests!!!

[thanksamillion]

I prescription definitely changed during pregnancy but I couldn't say for certain that it was due to the pregnancy. It makes sense though doesn't it, that as almost everything else with your body changes your eyesight might too.

Glad to see an Opticians recognising the issue.

[Nannynome]

I had my eyes lasered when I was 21, I went from a prescription of 8.5 in one eye for contacts and 7.5 in the other. My vision has been utterly fine since then and now at 35 I am pregnant with my second child and haven't had any vision loss at all. I will be going to get checked out again after the pregnancy to reconfirmed but so far all good!

[Arianrhod]

I don't recall my eyesight changing when I was pregnant with 8yo DD but it sure did during my pregnancy with my 6 month old twins! I found my eyesight was much more blurry and my eyes ached more; to the extent that I actually went to my optician concerned that something was wrong with my eyes. She told me it was most likely due to the pregnancy hormones, and to come back for an eye test no sooner than 3 months after their birth. I confess I haven't managed that yet, but my eyesight is better than it was during pregnancy now - but still not back to what it was prior to being pregnant, my eyesight is still on the blurry side.

[Fizzyplonk]

Not during pregnancy but after. Due to sleepless nights and maybe breastfeeding?? I think I ended up a bit dehydrated at times.
Comfort drops helped but more glasses days and taking lenses out earlier did too.

[Patilla]

After having DS I had my eyes tested about two months post birth and my prescription had improved noticeably. It slowly returned to the previous level over the course of four years. Unfortunately the arrival of his little sister seems to have failed to have a similar effect.

[PannaDoll]

This is a timely question as I just noticed that as of a couple of days ago my vision was going a tad tunnely. I have a severe astigmatism in my left eye and if my glasses aren't adjusted correctly, the lens can give a fish bowl effect. That was/is the kind of thing that's happening. I'm currently 39 weeks pregnant with baby number two. I don't recall any significant eyesight issues with number one.

[Tamar86]

I can't remember with my first pregnancy. I did have my eyes tested about 6 months later, and got new glasses, which I still have.

I don't think pregnancy affected my sight much second time round.

But I was advised not to take my normal daily antihistamine during pregnancy, so I suffered a lot with itchy eyes from hayfever. I used drops and they helped a bit.

[ouryve]

My vision wasn't fully stable anyhow, when I was pregnant for the first time, but my prescription didn't really change any more than normal - I was still going 18 months between being desperate for new glasses. What did happen, though, was that I had a lovely floater appear in the centre of my field of vision, which has stayed with me for 12 years, now. A thorough examination, when it first appeared, didn't unearth anything sinister, thank goodness.

[bluebump]

I have never needed glasses and had no idea your eyes could change during pregnancy. My eyes have been worse since then but I hadn't put it down to pregnancy.

[fluffygreenmonsterhoody]

I'm in a quandary at the moment because we're ttc and I'm due an eye test, but my prescription altered after/during my last pregnancy so I can't decide if it's worth it or not.

I'd also consider laser surgery but I'm not even looking into that until we're finished having DC as I know your prescription has to stay consistent for a while before you can be assessed for that.

[WishUponAStar88]

I wasn't aware that pregnancy could alter vision! I have fairly poor eyesight and wear contacts 90% of the time with just the odd day in glasses. I didn't notice any difference in vision or dryness in eyes when pregnant.