Pregnant blurred vision

Vision problems can be caused by different issues in pregnancy. If you have vision problems always tell your doctor or hospital straight away.

Vision problems such as blurring or flashing lights in your eyes could be caused by:

• a migraine
• pregnancy induced hypertension (high blood pressure in pregnancy). This is a type of high blood pressure that develops after 20 weeks and goes away within 6 weeks of the baby’s birth. It’s also known as gestational high blood pressure or gestational hypertension.
• water retention, which may affect the front of your eyes and change your vision slightly
• pre-eclampsia.

Hypertensive disorders are seen in 10% of all pregnancies. These hypertensive disorders include gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, eclampsia, and HELLP syndrome. Preeclampasia/eclampsia and HELLP syndrome can present with retinal disturbances, and serous retinal detachment can be found in 1-2% of the cases presenting with preeclampsia/eclampsia.

Pre-eclampsia is a kind of high blood pressure and is a serious pregnancy condition that usually happens after 20 weeks. Other symptoms can include:

• a sudden increase in swelling in your face, hands or feet
• a very bad headache or a dull headache that won’t go away
• severe pain just below your ribs
• feeling sick or vomiting
• feeling unwell.

Most pregnant women with preeclampsia have healthy babies. But if not treated, it can cause serious problems, like premature birth and even death. If you’re at risk for preeclampsia, your doctor may want you to take low-dose aspirin to help prevent it. Treatment depends on how severe your preeclampsia is and how far along you are in your pregnancy. Even if you have mild preeclampsia, you need treatment to make sure it doesn’t get worse.

If you have blurred vision, swelling in your hands and face or severe headaches or belly pain, see your doctor right away.

You can have preeclampsia and not know it, so go to all of your prenatal care visits, even if you’re feeling fine.

What is high blood pressure in pregnancy?

Blood pressure is the force of blood that pushes against the walls of your arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from your heart to other parts of the body. Each time your heart beats, it pumps blood to the arteries. If the pressure in your arteries becomes too high, you have high blood pressure also called hypertension. High blood pressure can put extra stress on your organs. This can lead to heart attack, heart failure, stroke and kidney failure.

Some women have high blood pressure before they get pregnant. Others have high blood pressure for the first time during pregnancy. About 8 in 100 women (8 percent) have some kind of high blood pressure during pregnancy. If you have high blood pressure, talk to your health care provider. Managing your blood pressure can help you have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.

High blood pressure during pregnancy key points

• High blood pressure can cause problems for you and your baby during pregnancy, including preeclampsia and premature birth.
• High blood pressure usually doesn’t cause signs or symptoms. Go to all of your prenatal care visits so your provider can check your blood pressure.
• If you need medicine to keep your blood pressure under control, take it every day.
• If you’re at high risk for preeclampsia, your provider may want you to take low-dose aspirin to help prevent it.

What kinds of high blood pressure can affect pregnancy?

Two kinds of high blood pressure that can happen during pregnancy:

1. Chronic hypertension. This is high blood pressure that you have before you get pregnant or that develops before 20 weeks of pregnancy. It doesn’t go away once you give birth. About 1 in 4 women with chronic hypertension (25 percent) has preeclampsia during pregnancy. If you’re at high risk for preeclampsia, your doctor may treat you with low-dose aspirin to prevent it. If you have chronic hypertension, your doctor checks your blood pressure and urine at each prenatal care visit. You may need to check your blood pressure at home, too. Your doctor may use ultrasound and fetal heart rate testing to check your baby’s growth and health. Your doctor also checks for signs of preeclampsia. If you were taking medicine for chronic hypertension before pregnancy, your doctor makes sure it’s safe to take during pregnancy. If it’s not, he switches you to a safer medicine. Some blood pressure medicines, called ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, can harm your baby during pregnancy. During the first half of pregnancy, blood pressure often falls. If you have mild hypertension and took medicine for it before pregnancy, your doctor may lower the dose of medicine you take. Or you may be able to stop taking medicine during pregnancy. Don’t stop taking any medicine before you talk to your health care doctor. Even if you didn’t take blood pressure medicine in the past, you may need to start taking it during pregnancy.
2. Gestational hypertension. This is high blood pressure that only pregnant women can get. It starts after 20 weeks of pregnancy and usually goes away after you give birth. It usually causes a small rise in blood pressure, but some women develop severe hypertension and may be at risk for more serious complications later in pregnancy, like preeclampsia. During pregnancy, your doctor checks your blood pressure and urine at every prenatal care checkup. She may use ultrasound and fetal heart rate testing to check your baby’s growth and health. Your doctor may ask you to check your blood pressure at home and do kick counts to see when and how often your baby moves. Here are two ways to do kick counts:
   1. Every day, time how long it takes for your baby to move ten times. If it takes longer than 2 hours, tell your doctor.
   2. See how many movements you feel in 1 hour. Do this three times each week. If the number changes, tell your doctor.

Doctors don’t know how to prevent gestational hypertension. But if you’re overweight or obese, getting to a healthy weight before pregnancy may lower your chances of having this condition. And even though gestational hypertension usually goes away after birth, you may be more likely to develop hypertension later in life. Healthy eating, staying active and getting to a healthy weight after pregnancy can help prevent high blood pressure in the future.

How do I know if I have high blood pressure?

Your blood pressure reading is given as two numbers:

• Systolic blood pressure. This is the upper (first) number in your reading. It’s the pressure when you heart contracts (gets tight). Your blood pressure is highest when your heart beats and pumps blood.
• Diastolic blood pressure. This is the lower (second) number in your reading. It’s the pressure when your heart relaxes. Your blood pressure falls because your heart is at rest between beats.

Your blood pressure reading fits into one of five categories:

1. Normal. Your blood pressure is less than 120/80.
2. Elevated. This is when your systolic blood pressure is between 120-129 and your diastolic pressure is less than 80.
3. Stage 1 high blood pressure. This is when your systolic pressure is between 130-139 or your diastolic pressure is between 80-89.
4. Stage 2 high blood pressure. This is when your systolic pressure is at least 140 or your diastolic is at least 90.
5. Hypertensive crisis. This is when your systolic pressure is higher than 180 and/or your diastolic pressure is higher than 120. Call your health care doctor right away if your blood pressure is this high.

At each prenatal care checkup, your doctor checks your blood pressure. To do this, she wraps a cuff (band) around your upper arm. She pumps air into the cuff to measure the pressure in your arteries when the heart contracts and then relaxes. If you have a high reading, your doctor can recheck it to find out for sure if you have high blood pressure. Your blood pressure can go up or down during the day.

What pregnancy complications can high blood pressure cause?

High blood pressure can cause problems for you and your baby during pregnancy, including:

Problems for moms include:

• Preeclampsia. This is when a pregnant woman has high blood pressure and signs that some of her organs, like her kidneys and liver, may not be working properly. Signs and symptoms of preeclampsia include having protein in the urine, changes in vision and severe headaches. Preeclampsia can be a serious medical condition. Even if you have mild preeclampsia, you need treatment to make sure it doesn’t get worse. Without treatment, preeclampsia can cause serious health problems, including kidney, liver and brain damage. In rare cases, it can lead to life-threatening conditions called eclampsia and HELLP syndrome. Eclampsia causes seizures and can lead to coma. HELLP syndrome is when you have serious blood and liver problems. HELLP stands for hemolysis (H), elevated liver enzymes (EL), low platelet count (LP).
• Gestational diabetes. This is a kind of diabetes that only pregnant women get. It’s a condition in which your body has too much sugar (also called glucose). Most women get a test for gestational diabetes at 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy.
• Heart attack also called myocardial infarction.
• Kidney failure. This is a serious condition that happens when the kidneys don’t work well and allow waste to build up in the body.
• Placental abruption. This is a serious condition in which the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus before birth. If this happens, your baby may not get enough oxygen and nutrients in the womb. You also may have serious bleeding from the vagina. The placenta grows in the uterus and supplies the baby with food and oxygen through the umbilical cord.
• Postpartum hemorrhage. This is when a woman has heavy bleeding after giving birth. It’s a serious but rare condition. It usually happens 1 day after giving birth, but it can happen up to 12 weeks after having a baby.
• Pulmonary edema. This is when fluid fills the lungs and leads to shortness of breath.
• Stroke. This is when blood flow to your brain stops. Stroke can happen if a blood clot blocks a vessel that brings blood to the brain or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts open.
• Pregnancy related death. This is when a woman dies during pregnancy or within 1 year after the end of her pregnancy from health problems related to pregnancy.

If you have high blood pressure during pregnancy, you’re also more likely have a cesarean birth (also called c-section). This is surgery in which your baby is born through a cut that your doctor makes in your belly and uterus.

Problems for babies include:

• Premature birth. This is birth that happens too early, before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Even with treatment, a pregnant woman with severe high blood pressure or preeclampsia may need to give birth early to avoid serious health problems for her and her baby.
• Fetal growth restriction. High blood pressure can narrow blood vessels in the umbilical cord. This is the cord that connects the baby to the placenta. It carries food and oxygen from the placenta to the baby. If you have high blood pressure, your baby may not get enough oxygen and nutrients, causing him to grow slowly.
• Low birthweight. This is when a baby is born weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces.
• Fetal death. When a baby dies spontaneously in the womb at any time during pregnancy.
• Neonatal death. This is when a baby dies in the first 28 days of life.

How is high blood pressure during pregnancy treated?

Here’s what you can do:

• Go to all your prenatal care checkups, even if you’re feeling fine.
• If you need medicine to control your blood pressure, take it every day. Your doctor can help you choose one that’s safe for you and your baby.
• Check your blood pressure at home. Ask your doctor what to do if your blood pressure is high.
• Eat healthy foods. Don’t eat foods that are high in salt, like soup and canned foods. They can raise your blood pressure.
• Stay active. Being active for 30 minutes each day can help you manage your weight, reduce stress and prevent problems like preeclampsia.
• Don’t smoke, drink alcohol or use street drugs or abuse prescription drugs.

What can I do about high blood pressure before pregnancy?

Here’s what you can do:

• Get a preconception checkup. This is a medical checkup you get before pregnancy to take care of health conditions that may affect your pregnancy.
• Use birth control until your blood pressure is under control. Birth control is methods you can use to keep from getting pregnant. Condoms and birth control pills are examples of birth control.
• Get to a healthy weight. Talk to your doctor about the weight that’s right for you.
• Eat healthy foods.
• Do something active every day.
• Don’t smoke. Smoking is dangerous for people with high blood pressure because it damages blood vessel walls.

What is HELLP syndrome?

HELLP syndrome is a serious pregnancy complication that affects the blood and liver. HELLP stands for these blood and liver problems:

• H–Hemolysis. This is the breakdown of red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body.
• EL–Elevated liver enzymes. High levels of these chemicals in your blood can be a sign of liver problems.
• LP–Low platelet count. Platelets are little pieces of blood cells that help your blood clot. A low platelet count can lead to serious bleeding.

HELLP syndrome is rare. It happens in about 1 to 2 of 1,000 pregnancies. HELLP usually develops in the third trimester of pregnancy, but it sometimes develops in the week after a baby is born. If you have HELLP syndrome, the liver may bleed, causing pain in your chest or belly. It’s is a medical emergency that needs quick treatment. Without early treatment, 1 out of 4 women (25 percent) with HELLP has serious complications. Without any treatment, a small number of women die.

If you’ve had HELLP syndrome in a past pregnancy, tell your provider. Getting early and regular prenatal care can help reduce your risk of having HELLP again. Going to all your prenatal care checkups allows your health care provider to find and treat problems like HELLP early.

HELLP syndrome usually goes away after giving birth.

What causes HELLP syndrome?

Scientists don’t know what causes HELLP syndrome. You’re at risk for HELLP if you have preeclampsia or eclampsia. About 1 to 2 in 10 pregnant women (10 to 20 percent) with preeclampsia or eclampsia develop HELLP. Preeclampsia is a serious blood pressure condition that can happen after the 20th week of pregnancy or after giving birth (called postpartum preeclampsia). It’s when a woman has high blood pressure and signs that some of her organs, like her kidneys and liver, may not be working normally. High blood pressure (also called hypertension) is when the force of blood against the walls of the blood vessels is too high. It can stress your heart and cause problems during pregnancy. Eclampsia is when preeclampsia is uncontrolled and causes seizures. Seizures are sudden, abnormal electrical activity in the brain that can cause changes in behavior, movement, feelings and consciousness.

What are signs and symptoms of HELLP syndrome?

Signs of a condition are things someone else can see or know about you, like you have a rash or you’re coughing. Symptoms are things you feel yourself that others can’t see, like having a sore throat or feeling dizzy. Signs and symptoms of HELLP syndrome can appear during pregnancy or after giving birth. Some women develop HELLP suddenly, without having any signs or symptoms.

Signs and symptoms of HELLP syndrome include:

• Blurry vision
• Chest pain or pain in the upper right or middle part of the belly
• Headache, fatigue (feeling really tired) or feeling unwell
• Nausea (feeling sick to your stomach) or throwing up that gets worse
• Quick weight gain and swelling
• Nosebleed or other bleeding that doesn’t stop. This is rare.
• Seizures or convulsions. This is rare. Convulsions are when your body shakes quickly and without control.

If you have any signs or symptoms of HELLP syndrome, call your health care provider or emergency services (911) or go to a hospital emergency room for medical care right away.

Signs and symptoms of HELLP syndrome are the same as for other health conditions. So sometimes HELLP is misdiagnosed as:

• Flu or other illness caused by a virus
• Gallbladder disease. The gallbladder is an organ under your liver that stores bile, a fluid your liver makes to help the body break down fat.
• Hepatitis. This is inflammation (swelling) of the liver.
• Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (also called ITP). This is a bleeding disorder. If you have idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, you may bruise easily or have a lot of bruising (also called purpura). You also may bleed easily or heavily. For example, you may have bleeding from the gums or nose or bleeding into the skin that looks like a rash of pinpoint red spots.
• Lupus flare. A lupus flare is a period of time when you have many or intense lupus symptoms. Lupus is an autoimmune disorder that can cause health problems during pregnancy.
• Autoimmune disorders are health conditions that happen when antibodies (cells in the body that fight off infections) attack healthy tissue by mistake. Lupus and other autoimmune disorders can cause swelling, pain and sometimes organ damage. Lupus also can affect joints, skin, kidneys, lungs and blood vessels.
• Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. This is a rare condition that causes blood clots to form in small blood vessels throughout the body. These clots can cause serious health problems if they block the flow of blood to organs, like the brain, kidneys and heart.

What health problems can HELLP cause?

HELLP syndrome can cause:

• Bleeding and blood clotting problems. Some women with HELLP develop disseminated intravascular coagulation (also called DIC). This is a blood clotting disorder than can lead to heavy bleeding (also called hemorrhage).
• Fluid buildup in the lungs (also called pulmonary edema). This can cause breathing problems.
• Kidney failure
• Liver hemorrhage or failure
• Placental abruption. This is a serious condition in which the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus before birth.

How is HELLP syndrome diagnosed?

To find out if you have HELLP syndrome, your provider does a physical exam to check you for:

• Belly pain or soreness, especially in the upper right side
• An enlarged liver
• High blood pressure
• Swelling in your legs

Your doctor may do blood tests to check your liver enzyme levels and your platelet count. He may do a CT scan to see if there’s bleeding in your liver. A CT scan is a test that uses X-rays and computers to take pictures of your body.

Your doctor may do tests like a non-stress test or ultrasound to check your baby’s health. A non-stress test (also called NST or fetal heart rate monitoring) checks your baby’s heart rate in the womb to see how the heart rate changes when your baby moves. Your provider uses this test to make sure your baby’s getting enough oxygen. Ultrasound uses sound waves and a computer screen to show a picture of your baby inside the womb.

Many women are diagnosed with preeclampsia before they have HELLP. Sometimes signs and symptoms of HELLP symptoms are the first signs of preeclampsia.

How is HELLP syndrome treated?

If you have HELLP, your provider may give you medicine to control your blood pressure and prevent seizures. You may need a blood transfusion. This is when you have new blood put into your body.

If you have HELLP syndrome, you may need to give birth as soon as possible. This may mean that your baby is born prematurely, before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Early birth may be necessary because HELLP complications can get worse and harm both you your baby. If you’re giving birth early, your provider may give you medicines called antenatal corticosteroids to help speed your baby’s lung growth. Your provider can induce labor (make labor start) with medicine or other methods. Or you may have your baby by cesarean birth (also called c-section). This is surgery in which your baby is born through a cut that your doctor makes in your belly and uterus.

What is preeclampsia?

Preeclampsia is a serious blood pressure condition that can happen after the 20th week of pregnancy or after giving birth called postpartum preeclampsia. It’s when a woman has high blood pressure and signs that some of her organs, like her kidneys and liver, may not be working normally. Blood pressure is the force of blood that pushes against the walls of your arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from your heart to other parts of the body. High blood pressure (also called hypertension) is when the force of blood against the walls of the blood vessels is too high. It can stress your heart and cause problems during pregnancy.

Preeclampsia is a serious health problem for pregnant women around the world. It affects 2 to 8 percent of pregnancies worldwide (2 to 8 in 100). In the United States, it’s the cause of 15 percent (about 3 in 20) of premature births. Premature birth is birth that happens too early, before 37 weeks of pregnancy.

Most women with preeclampsia have healthy babies. But if it’s not treated, it can cause severe health problems for you and your baby.

What causes preeclampsia?

Scientists don’t know for sure what causes preeclampsia, but there are some things that may make you more likely than other women to have it. These are called risk factors. If you have even one risk factor for preeclampsia, tell your doctor.

You’re at high risk for preeclampsia if:

• You’ve had preeclampsia in a previous pregnancy. The earlier in pregnancy you had preeclampsia, the higher your risk is to have it again in another pregnancy. You’re also at higher risk if you had preeclampsia along with other pregnancy complications.
• You’re pregnant with multiples (twins, triplets or more).
• You have high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease or an autoimmune disease like lupus or antiphospholipid syndrome. Diabetes is when you have too much sugar in the blood. This can damage organs, like blood vessels, nerves, eyes and kidneys. An autoimmune disease is a health condition that happens when antibodies (cells in the body that fight off infections) attack healthy tissue by mistake.

Other risk factors for preeclampsia include:

• You’ve never had a baby before, or it’s been more than 10 years since you had a baby.
• You’re obese. Obese means being very overweight with a body mass index (also called BMI) of 30 or higher.
• You have a family history of preeclampsia. This means that other people in your family, like your sister or mother, have had it.
• You had complications in a previous pregnancy, like having a baby with low birthweight. Low birthweight is when your baby is born weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces.
• You had a fertility treatment called in vitro fertilization (also called IVF) to help you get pregnant.
• You’re older than 35.
• You’re African-American. African-American women are at higher risk for preeclampsia than other women.
• You have low socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status is a combination of things, like a person’s education level, job and income (how much money you make). A person with low socioeconomic status may have little education, may not have a job that pays well and may have little income or savings.

If your provider thinks you’re at risk of having preeclampsia, he may want to treat you with low-dose aspirin to help prevent it. Talk to your doctor to see if treatment with low-dose aspirin is right for you.

How can preeclampsia affect me and my baby?

Without treatment, preeclampsia can cause serious health problems for you and your baby, even death. You may have preeclampsia and not know it, so be sure to go to all your prenatal care checkups, even if you’re feeling fine. If you have any sign or symptom of preeclampsia, tell your doctor.

Health problems for women who have preeclampsia include:

• Kidney, liver and brain damage
• Problems with how your blood clots. A blood clot is a mass or clump of blood that forms when blood changes from a liquid to a solid. Your body normally makes blood clots to stop bleeding after a scrape or cut. Problems with blood clots can cause serious bleeding problems.
• Eclampsia. This is a rare and life-threatening condition. It’s when a pregnant woman has seizures or a coma after preeclampsia. A coma is when you’re unconscious for a long period of time and can’t respond to voices, sounds or activity.
• Stroke. This is when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted or reduced. Stroke can happen when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel that brings blood to the brain, or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts open.

Pregnancy complications from preeclampsia include:

• Premature birth. Even with treatment, you may need to give birth early to help prevent serious health problems for you and your baby.
• Placental abruption. This is when the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus (womb) before birth. It can separate partially or completely. If you have placental abruption, your baby may not get enough oxygen and nutrients. Vaginal bleeding is the most common symptom of placental abruption after 20 weeks of pregnancy. If you have vaginal bleeding during pregnancy, tell your health care doctor right away.
• Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). This is when a baby has poor growth in the womb. It can happen when mom has high blood pressure that narrows the blood vessels in the uterus and placenta. The placenta grows in the uterus and supplies your baby with food and oxygen through the umbilical cord. If your baby doesn’t get enough oxygen and nutrients in the womb, he may have IUGR.
• Low birthweight

Having preeclampsia increases your risk for postpartum hemorrhage. Postpartum hemorrhage is heavy bleeding after giving birth. It’s a rare condition, but if not treated, it can lead to shock and death. Shock is when your body’s organs don’t get enough blood flow.

Having preeclampsia increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease later in life.

What are the signs and symptoms of preeclampsia?

Signs of a condition are things someone else can see or know about you, like you have a rash or you’re coughing. Symptoms are things you feel yourself that others can’t see, like having a sore throat or feeling dizzy.

Signs and symptoms of preeclampsia include:

• Changes in vision, like blurriness, flashing lights, seeing spots or being sensitive to light
• Headache that doesn’t go away
• Nausea (feeling sick to your stomach), vomiting or dizziness
• Pain in the upper right belly area or in the shoulder
• Sudden weight gain (2 to 5 pounds in a week)
• Swelling in the legs, hands or face
• Trouble breathing

Many of these signs and symptoms are common discomforts of pregnancy. If you have even one sign or symptom, call your doctor right away.

How is preeclampsia diagnosed?

To diagnose preeclampsia, your doctor measures your blood pressure and tests your urine for protein at every prenatal visit.

Your doctor may check your baby’s health with:

• Ultrasound. This is a prenatal test that uses sound waves and a computer screen to make a picture of your baby in the womb. Ultrasound checks that your baby is growing at a normal rate. It also lets your doctor look at the placenta and the amount of fluid around your baby to make sure your pregnancy is healthy.
• Nonstress test. This test checks your baby’s heart rate.
• Biophysical profile. This test combines the nonstress test with an ultrasound.

How is mild preeclampsia treated?

Most women with mild preeclampsia after 37 weeks of pregnancy don’t have serious health problems. If you have mild preeclampsia before 37 weeks:

• Your doctor checks your blood pressure and urine regularly. She may want you to stay in the hospital to monitor you closely. If you’re not in the hospital, your doctor may want you to have checkups once or twice a week. She also may ask you to take your blood pressure at home.
• Your doctor may ask you to do kick counts to track how often your baby moves. There are two ways to do kick counts: Every day, time how long it takes for your baby to move ten times. If it takes longer than 2 hours, tell your doctor. Or three times a week, track the number of times your baby moves in 1 hour. If the number changes, tell your doctor.
• If you’re at least 37 weeks pregnant and your condition is stable, your doctor may recommend that you have your baby early. This may be safer for you and your baby than staying pregnant. Your doctor may give you medicine or break your water (amniotic sac) to make labor start. This is called inducing labor.

How is severe preeclampsia treated?

If you have severe preeclampsia, you most likely stay in the hospital so your doctor can closely monitor you and your baby. Your doctor may treat you with medicines called antenatal corticosteroids. These medicines help speed up your baby’s lung development. You also may get medicine to control your blood pressure and medicine to prevent seizures (called magnesium sulfate).

If your condition gets worse, it may be safer for you and your baby to give birth early. Most babies of moms with severe preeclampsia before 34 weeks of pregnancy do better in the hospital than by staying in the womb. If you’re at least 34 weeks pregnant, your doctor may recommend that you have your baby as soon as your condition is stable. Your doctor may induce your labor, or you may have a c-section. If you’re not yet 34 weeks pregnant but you and your baby are stable, you may be able to wait to have your baby.

If you have severe preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome, you almost always need to give birth early. HELLP syndrome is a rare but life-threatening liver disorder. About 2 in 10 women (20 percent) with severe preeclampsia develop HELLP syndrome. You may need medicine to control your blood pressure and prevent seizures. Some women may need blood transfusions. A blood transfusion means you have new blood put into your body.

What causes blurred vision during pregnancy?

There are multiple reasons as to why pregnant ladies experience a hazy vision. The most prominent reason is pregnancy hormones. They cause fluid retention which alters the cornea to make it thicker, along with an increase in the fluid pressure within the eyeball. This results in a blurred vision. Another effect of these hormones is that they decrease the tear production which in turn diminishes the acuity of vision.

Expecting mothers with other health conditions such as preeclampsia or gestational diabetes can also suffer from vision problems. Apart from blurry vision, preeclampsia can cause light sensitivity, temporary vision loss, auras and flashes of light. And, gestational diabetes can cause alterations in the cornea and even damage the retina. So the blood sugar levels should be monitored regularly and if distorted vision persists, a physician should be consulted immediately.

Even increased progesterone levels during pregnancy can cause the tissues of cornea to soften. This can also lead to unclear or doubled vision.

Blurred vision during pregnancy treatment

If you have any vision problems – even if you don’t have any other symptoms – see your doctor or go to hospital maternity unit straight away.