Pregnancy Guide – Week 21
I can’t see!!
Yet another marvel of the pregnancy process is the effect it may have on your vision. I am being literal here, as I don’t exactly want to or have the space to discuss the philosophical implications. Your actual eye sight may be altered during pregnancy. For some it will be so minute that it won’t require correction while others may find that they need different lens, or glasses for the first time. These are usually people who have always been on the brink of needing corrective lens, and this is just that little push. If you feel like you are squinting to read what’s right in front of you (like your computer screen) or what’s far off (like street signs), you may want to make an appointment to see your optician. Some people will try to “tough it out” which will only result in headaches and accidents. Sometimes the temporary change is so small that you can purchase some of those inexpensive reader glasses at the drugstore.
The reason for all of this is again hormonal. The changes in different levels of hormones can result in a change of the actual shape of your eye, or possibly the areas around the eyes. As I mentioned in a previous week, your body has increased the capillary networks in all mucus membranes, which includes the eye socket. Many people are under the assumption that our eyes are perfect little circle balls that sit evenly spaced and level in our head. This could not be further from the truth. Every eye is different (even on the same person) and is more of an oval than circle, but still not a perfect oval. And our eyes are in fact not even level with one another. Rather our brain has programmed itself to “see” level out of our uneven eyes. It only takes the smallest change in the curvature of your eye to change your vision, so when the hormones take effect you may temporarily require corrective lens. The good news is that for most it is only minor and it returns to ‘normal’ once you are past the post-partum stage.
Word of the Week
Myopia – n – Ophthalmology . a condition of the eye in which parallel rays are focused in front of the retina, objects being seen distinctly only when near to the eye; nearsightedness ( opposed to hyperopia).(www.dictionary.com)
