Myopia is currently the most common problem related to vision health, and most families have one or two members who suffer from myopia, giving the impression that a pair of frame glasses is always in sight. If you want to know how many people suffer from myopia, you don’t have to check the exact number, just look at the eyeglass stores that can be found everywhere on the street. In fact, wearing glasses is not to pretend to be cool, nor to pretend to be civilized, the real myopia patients are difficult to hide, because of the inconvenience of learning, work and life caused by poor vision, they have no choice but to keep their glasses. If there is no myopia, they certainly do not want to wear glasses. Myopia is a small thing, it is also a small thing, wear a glasses can restore good vision, although some aspects of life caused inconvenience; said myopia is a big thing, it is also a big thing, once the development of mild myopia into a high degree of myopia, there is a risk of blindness.
No matter how big or small you think myopia is, you can’t be careless when you’re nearsighted. It is important to control it effectively in order not to panic after suffering from high myopia, the so-called high myopia refers to myopia of more than 600 degrees, usually accompanied by eye axis prolongation, retinal and choroidal atrophy of the fundus and other degenerative pathologies as the main characteristics of refractive error. In China, high myopia is autosomal recessive and is characterized by the onset of myopia in children of preschool age, progressive increase in myopia, and aggravation of retinal choroidal lesions in the fundus, resulting in many serious complications, thus high myopia is also known as pathological myopia, malignant myopia, degenerative myopia, progressive myopia, and genetic myopia. The prevalence of high myopia is very high in China, about 1%. High myopia can have many serious complications, most of which can lead to blindness, and is one of the common causes of blindness in adults, taking the sixth place among the blinding diseases in China.
The main complications of high myopia are.
1. posterior scleral staphyloma: the incidence is 77.1%. The main manifestation is the backward expansion of the posterior pole of the eye, which is commonly referred to as an increase in the anterior and posterior diameter of the eye. The optic nerve and the retina around the macula become degenerative and atrophied, and the corrected visual acuity decreases. The higher the degree of myopia, the higher the incidence of posterior scleral staphyloma.
2. Retinal atrophy and degeneration, hemorrhage and fissure: Due to factors such as elongation of the anterior and posterior diameters of the eye and posterior scleral staphyloma, highly myopic patients are prone to retinal degeneration and fissure, causing hemorrhage. The retina is an important tissue for the eye to feel visual information, and its occurrence of fissure and hemorrhage can easily lead to blindness.
3. Subretinal neovascularization: Under normal circumstances, the retina is rich in blood vessels, but excessive blood vessel growth is abnormal. High myopia can have subretinal neovascularization in the posterior pole, and neovascularization is an abnormal blood vessel that can easily cause bleeding and affect vision.
4. Retinal detachment: It is the most common complication of high myopia. As the anterior and posterior diameters of myopic eyes grow, intraocular nutritional disorders occur, cystic degeneration and lattice degeneration often occur in the peripheral part of the retina, and the retina in the degeneration area is very thin and easily perforated, coupled with vitreous liquefaction and increased mobility, pulling the retina to detachment. In retinal detachment, 70% of them are highly myopic eyes. Retinal detachment will lose the function of perceiving visual information, which will lead to blindness if not treated in time.
Cataract: The lens is an important organ in the eye to adjust the focus and pass light. The abnormal nutrient metabolism in highly myopic eyes causes the lens capsule membrane permeability to change, and the lens gradually becomes cloudy due to nutrient disorders and metabolic malfunction, and the vision gradually decreases to produce concurrent cataract. This kind of cataract develops slowly and is dominated by core clouding and posterior capsule clouding.
6, glaucoma: most of the normal human eye is liquid, which will produce pressure on the wall of the eye, called intraocular pressure, which, like blood pressure, cannot be too high or too low. Myopic eye atrial angle at the filter curtain structure is not normal, so the atrial water flow out of the eye resistance is greater, the more fluid in the eye accumulates, easy to cause an increase in intraocular pressure. According to statistics, 30% of highly myopic eyes have glaucoma, and this glaucoma will cause gradual loss of vision.
7, vitreous turbidity: is flying mosquitoes, its performance is, if in looking at a brighter background objects, will feel like mosquitoes in front of the black shadow of things flying around, will flutter with the rotation of the eye.
In the problem of high myopia, research results show that genetics plays a very important role, and environmental factors only account for a minority. The development of the human eye is stage-specific. 0-3 years old is the period of rapid development of the eye axis, 3-18 years old is the period of slow development of the eye axis, and after 18 years old, the development of the eye axis is in a stable period, so that most myopia can be well controlled by the time of adulthood. High myopia is caused by the premature and rapid development of the eye axis during the growth and development of children, which exceeds the normal range. This condition is mostly determined by genetics, so it is difficult to control. It is difficult to say whether a particular child has the gene for myopia inherited or not. Although the parents do not wear glasses, it is possible that the grandparents are nearsighted or have the gene and it does not show up.
In terms of understanding heredity, the average person can understand which part of the child looks like the father and which part looks like the mother. In fact, the same is true in a specific organ like the eye. The eye is a very delicate thing, and whether each part of it individually is structurally normal and whether the parts are well matched is also subject to genetic influence from the parents. Although this structural difference is very subtle, it does have an effect on the eye. If both parents are highly myopic, the likelihood of the next generation being myopic is 100 percent; if one parent is highly myopic, the likelihood of the child being myopic is 57 percent; if neither parent is highly myopic, the likelihood of the next generation having high myopia is 20 percent, so the role of heredity is quite obvious. Although the formation of high myopia is determined by congenital factors, acquired factors cannot be ignored and still require the necessary interference and treatment. The prevention and treatment of high myopia is different from general myopia. Adolescence is the high incidence of myopia and the critical period when mild myopia is most likely to turn into high myopia. Once mild myopia is left unchecked and develops into high myopia, it can bring many complications and affect eye health.
If you get myopia during adolescence, you should not let it develop and take measures to control it in a timely manner.
1, to the regular hospital prescription formal production, the degree of accurate frame glasses, frame glasses to a certain extent can control the development of myopia, correction of refractive error. Do not think that with the frame glasses everything is worry-free, with the frame glasses should also be timely vision check, see the degree of growth, according to the degree of change in time to replace the glasses lenses, recommended half a year for an optometry examination.
2, early prevention of mild myopia into moderate myopia, moderate myopia and then develop into high myopia potential, children watching TV, playing computer and reading writing homework to follow the principle of an hour break ten minutes. The significance of prevention and control is somehow greater than the treatment, we have to protect the eyes as a window to the world!
3, the necessary means of control: the current study concluded that keratoplasty is the most effective way to control myopia in children and adolescents, adapting to myopia below 500 degrees, astigmatism below 150 degrees, myopia in the progressive stage.
4, for highly myopic, highly astigmatic myopic patients, you can consider wearing high permeability rigid corneal contact lenses (RGP) for correction, RGP is not only clearer than frame glasses, but also plays a role in delaying the development of high myopia.
5. If the myopia is still not controlled and increases by more than 100 degrees per year, with further growth of the eye axis and changes in the fundus retina, posterior scleral reinforcement surgery should be performed. The purpose of posterior scleral reinforcement surgery is to effectively prevent the development of high myopia by limiting the elongation of the eye axis. Secondly, it can prevent and treat pathological changes in the retina of high myopia.
6.After high myopia is stabilized, excimer laser surgery or intraocular lens implantation (ICL) can be considered to eliminate the inconvenience and pain caused by wearing glasses.
7, regular follow-up, half-yearly dilated pupil examination of the fundus, found retinal disease timely treatment, to avoid serious consequences.
8, avoid external impact on the eye, avoid running, jumping and other strenuous sports, especially diving, should be prohibited.
Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital Optometry Center is the only public specialized medical and research institution for myopia prevention and treatment in Hunan Province, with advanced myopia prevention and control technology and treatment equipment. It carries out medical programs such as medical optometry, soft corneal contact lens (SCL), rigid corneal contact lens (RGP) and corneal shaping lens fitting, excimer laser surgery for myopia and hyperopia, posterior scleral reinforcement surgery for high myopia, intraocular lens implantation for myopia and cone cornea diagnosis and treatment.