Dry eyes - pregnancy related ??

[Boggler]

I'm 24 weeks and for the past week I've been suffering from very dry eyes. I normally wear contact lenses but I'm finding this uncomfortable due to the dryness. I'm using some eye drops which helps and will be going to the optician if it persists but I was wondering if it could be yet anther pregnancy side effect?

Yes, I had similar in my last pregnancy. Can't remember when or anything useful, but it didn't last for long. I found prolonged computer use made it worse, although it was a fairly minor pregnancy symptom compared to some of the others!

Yes, definitely - your eyes change shape slightly, too - maybe see if you can get some synthetic tears from optician, or just wear your glasses.

Yes - its crap. I wear contacts and have to take them out in the early evening because my eyes are itchy. Pre-pregnancy, I'd take them out before bed.

Yep, had to limit my contact lens time from quite early on.

Yep I'm the same, lenses have been really uncomfortable. You may want to try the new spray eye drops that are out - you spray a fine mist over your closed eyelids. At £18 per bottle it's not cheap, but I do find them slightly better than eye drops.

Crikey is there anything that isn't due to being pregnant! I hate wearing my glasses but I guess I'll have to lol x

Supplementing with artificial tear drops will help. Your optician may suggest you upgrade your lens type that is more suitable for dry eyes. The spray that applecrumble mentioned is good and easy to use, but doesn't suit everyone.

yep, me too. I changed to a newer type of lens and it's been much better.

yes. I stopped wearing my contact lenses when I was pregnant first time round.

i started a thread about this too..

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/1417119-Dry-eyes

it's the progesterone. dries out your eyes.

same reason that many women who are on the Pill can't use contacts... the progesterone in the Pill dries out your eyes and makes infections/irritations more likely.

Medically speaking - No. :)

It's stress related, like too much worrying and frustrations, sometime when you don't get enough sleep. Also, this can be caused by a certain vitamin deficiency (B complex), remember your vitamin intake should cover for 2 not just for you.

And just to cheer you up, I've found that I still can't wear them after having DS! Was a huge fan of my contacts, but had to give them up during pregnancy, and the optician confirmed my eyes had gone really dry. Couldn't wait to get back to them, but found the problem persisted, not sure if it's because I'm still bf (DS is five and a bit months)?