Central serous chorioretinopathy and white subretinal exudation during pregnancy

Six otherwise healthy pregnant women had development of idiopathic central serous chorioretinopathy in one or both eyes. All had one or more focal areas of white subretinal exudate, which probably was fibrinous in type. In some patients, this was misinterpreted as subretinal neovascularization or retinitis. Symptoms developed in most patients in the third trimester and following delivery, there was spontaneous resolution of retinal detachment and return of visual acuity to 20/20 or better. In a randomly selected group of 50 patients with idiopathic central serous retinopathy unassociated with pregnancy, subretinal white exudation occurred in only six (17%) of 42 men and in zero (0%) of eight women. The cause for the higher prevalence of this exudate in pregnant women is unknown.