Vision - flashing lights / broken glass effect in the corner of my eye

[Sandrine1982]

Hi. Has anyone had this? I'm 28 weeks pregnant and this has already happened 3 times in my pregnancy. It's like my field of vision is "broken" in the corner of one eye, with flashing lights / sparkles that look almost like broken glass. It usually lasts about 20 minutes and I always lie down and have a glass of water, and generally it passes, but every time it freaks me out. I forgot to mention it to my midwife at my last appointment but I've read that it could be a sign of pre-eclampsia?? Weird because every time they check my blood pressure, it's absolutely fine, and the urine samples have been OK too. I don't have any swelling or severe headaches. What could it be? Thanks

Contact maternity triage where you are booked. It could be pre-eclampsia. It can creep up with an otherwise previous
normal blood pressure and often in the last trimester. I would expect them to take some bloods.

Id get checked out. yes could be pre eclampsia

I think you need to go to see a gp/hospital straight away, or speak to 111. Could be symptoms of detached retina?

detached retina symptoms

Similar effect to Posterior Vitreous Detachment (I have had) - initial episodes are like that, then it settles down and only recurs when dehydrated. BUT it is normally a feature of aging and the fact you are pregnant means you would be outside of the normal age parameter.

As everyone else says, contact your midwife.

Sounds like ocular migraine.

Do call your midwife.

I’ve had exactly this 6-7 times in the past 3 weeks. Went to the opticians who did a full exam, said it sounds like a migraine without the headache, but sent me to gp as I’m pregnant.
My blood pressure was quite high at the gp so was sent straight to hospital, but it had come down when I got there, they monitored me for half an hour and took bloods for preeclampsia but didn’t seem too fussed. It’s happened a few times since, the midwife has taken blood again just incase but it seems to just be an annoying pregnancy thing for me.

Definitely get checked though, as it could be preeclampsia (am still half expecting to be told I’ve got it even though they’ve done bloods twice!)

Since you are pregnant, you need to get pre eclampsia ruled out first. Then go to an optician to get your retina, vitrious fluid and eye pressure checked, then go to your GP for a discussion about migraines with aura

Thanks. I will get it checked out. :)

Sounds like ocular migraine (basically a migraine aura without the headache). Talk to midwife to rule out pregnancy pre-eclampsia, then either optician or GP for referral to eye clinic to exclude any eye problems.

If it is migraine related then you shouldn’t use the combined pill for postnatal contraception as there is a stroke risk.

I had this throughout my last pregnancy. I was told it was an 'aura' migraine. Mine got worse and I got the headache too, but it did stop when I had the baby!

Sounds very typical of migraine to me but needs checking with a midwife.