Corneal sensitivity in pregnancy.

Only few studies are available on changes in corneal sensitivity during pregnancy, and most of the earlier work was done with instruments which gave only a rough approximation of the threshold of corneal sensitivity to touch. The new esthesiometer developed by Draeger permits, for the first time, an exact and reproducible determination of the threshold of corneal sensitivity to touch. We studied corneal sensitivity in 86 pregnant women between the 13th and 40th week of gestation. The thresholds were significantly higher in the study as compared to a control group of non-pregnant women. The decrease in corneal sensitivity was not related to duration of gestation, weight gain during pregnancy or mean arterial pressure at the time of examination. Possible mechanisms responsible for changes in corneal sensitivity in pregnancy are discussed.