diff --git a/src/components/Widgets/Markdown/MarkdownControl/VisualEditor/index.js b/src/components/Widgets/Markdown/MarkdownControl/VisualEditor/index.js
index 26f36ee0..b801510f 100644
--- a/src/components/Widgets/Markdown/MarkdownControl/VisualEditor/index.js
+++ b/src/components/Widgets/Markdown/MarkdownControl/VisualEditor/index.js
@@ -193,6 +193,7 @@ const RULES = [
       return {
         kind: 'inline',
         type: 'image',
+        isVoid: true,
         nodes: [],
         data: {
           src: el.attribs.src,
diff --git a/src/components/Widgets/Markdown/unified.js b/src/components/Widgets/Markdown/unified.js
index 0d7e6957..6a306e35 100644
--- a/src/components/Widgets/Markdown/unified.js
+++ b/src/components/Widgets/Markdown/unified.js
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import find from 'lodash/find';
 import unified from 'unified';
 import markdownToRemark from 'remark-parse';
 import remarkToRehype from 'remark-rehype';
@@ -12,22 +13,61 @@ const remarkParseConfig = { fences: true };
 const remarkStringifyConfig = { listItemIndent: '1', fences: true };
 const rehypeParseConfig = { fragment: true };
 
-export const markdownToHtml = markdown =>
-  unified()
+const rehypeRemoveEmpty = () => {
+  const isVoidElement = node => ['img', 'hr'].includes(node.tagName);
+  const isNonEmptyText = node => node.type === 'text' && node.value;
+  const isNonEmptyNode =  node => {
+    return isVoidElement(node) || isNonEmptyText(node) || find(node.children, isNonEmptyNode);
+  };
+
+  const transform = node => {
+    if (isVoidElement(node) || isNonEmptyText(node)) {
+      return node;
+    }
+    if (node.children) {
+      node.children = node.children.reduce((acc, childNode) => {
+        if (isVoidElement(childNode) || isNonEmptyText(childNode)) {
+          return acc.concat(childNode);
+        }
+        return find(childNode.children, isNonEmptyNode) ? acc.concat(transform(childNode)) : acc;
+      }, []);
+    }
+    return node;
+  };
+  return transform;
+};
+
+const rehypePaperEmoji = () => {
+  const transform = node => {
+    if (node.tagName === 'img' && node.properties.dataEmojiCh) {
+      return { type: 'text', value: node.properties.dataEmojiCh };
+    }
+    node.children = node.children ? node.children.map(transform) : node.children;
+    return node;
+  };
+  return transform;
+};
+
+export const markdownToHtml = markdown => {
+  console.log('markdownToHtml input', markdown);
+  const result = unified()
     .use(markdownToRemark, remarkParseConfig)
     .use(remarkToRehype)
-    .use(rehypeSanitize)
-    .use(rehypeMinifyWhitespace)
     .use(rehypeToHtml)
     .processSync(markdown)
     .contents;
+  console.log('markdownToHtml output', result);
+  return result;
+}
 
-export const htmlToMarkdown = html =>
-  unified()
+export const htmlToMarkdown = html => {
+  console.log('htmlToMarkdown input', html);
+  const result = unified()
     .use(htmlToRehype, rehypeParseConfig)
-    .use(rehypeSanitize)
-    .use(rehypeMinifyWhitespace)
     .use(rehypeToRemark)
     .use(remarkToMarkdown, remarkStringifyConfig)
     .processSync(html)
     .contents;
+  console.log('htmlToMarkdown output', result);
+  return result;
+};