Contents:
- Medical Video: High Blood Pressure | Hypertension | Nucleus Health
- Overview of high blood pressure in pregnant women
- How does high blood pressure affect the eyes?
- Symptoms of high blood pressure in the eye
- How do doctors diagnose eye disorders due to hypertension?
- How to treat hypertension retinopathy?
- Can pregnancy continue?
Medical Video: High Blood Pressure | Hypertension | Nucleus Health
The high maternal mortality rate is still a major health problem in Indonesia. More than 25% of maternal deaths in Indonesia in 2013 were caused by hypertension during pregnancy. High blood pressure in pregnant women not only increases the risk of preeclampsia and stroke, but the impact can even affect vision. This eye disorder can continue to become blind if your hypertension is not controlled. Why, how come?
Overview of high blood pressure in pregnant women
Pregnant women are said to have hypertension when their blood pressure reaches ≥ 140/90 mmHg during their pregnancy. High blood pressure can occur only during pregnancy - meaning you have no history of hypertension before this - or you have had it before before pregnancy and carried on.
When new high blood pressure occurs during pregnancy, this condition is referred to as gestational hypertension and usually starts after 20 weeks' gestation or usually in the third trimester. Hypertension that you have long before pregnancy, is called chronic hypertension.
Most cases of high blood pressure in pregnant women (types of chronic hypertension) can decline at the end of the first semester, and then can increase until they reach high blood pressure before pregnancy in the third trimester.
How does high blood pressure affect the eyes?
The higher your blood pressure and the longer you experience it, the more likely you are to experience severe eye damage. Eye disorders due to high blood pressure are called hypertensive retinopathy.
Increased blood pressure affects the entire wall of blood vessels in the body, including blood vessels in the retina of the eye. High blood pressure will narrow the retinal vessels and reduce blood flow to the eyes.
Over time, damage to the retinal blood vessels due to hypertension will damage the visual nerve. In the end this will cause problems in your vision, even to the point of causing permanent blindness.
Symptoms of high blood pressure in the eye
High blood pressure in pregnant women usually does not cause any symptoms in the eye, until the condition has become severe.
Symptoms of hypertension that are usually complained of in vision are:
- Slow decrease in vision
- Swollen eyes
- Red eyes due to rupture of blood vessels
- Double vision is accompanied by a headache
- There is a black shadow that disturbs the field of view
- Sudden loss of vision, until blindness
How do doctors diagnose eye disorders due to hypertension?
The doctor will first drip special eye medications that function to enlarge the pupil. This is so that the doctor can see the blood vessels of the eye more clearly. Then, the doctor will use a special instrument called an ophthalmoscope to scan the back of the eye to get the desired picture of the blood vessels.
Doctors will look for signs of hypertension retinopathy, including:
- Narrowing of arteries
- Spots on the retina or known as"Cotton wool spots"
- Swelling of the macula (the central part of the retina) and the optic nerve
- Bleeding in the back of the eye
How to treat hypertension retinopathy?
Treatment is preferred to control high blood pressure in pregnant women while maintaining the health of the fetus. Decreasing blood pressure, with medication, lifestyle changes, or a combination of both will automatically restore the vision condition of the pregnant woman.
But the most important of all is checking routine tension before and during pregnancy so that blood pressure problems can be detected as soon as possible.
Can pregnancy continue?
Continuing or not pregnancy depends on many factors that you should discuss with the obstetrician with an ophthalmologist, and expert doctors in other fields. However, in general, pregnancy is not recommended to continue if you have lost your vision, or have complications of severe hypertension.
