How much is considered high myopia? Myopia is a refractive error of greater than 600 degrees (>400 degrees in children), which is called high myopia. Because this type of myopia has pathological changes in the eye, high myopia is equated with pathological myopia or degenerative myopia. Patients with high myopia usually have protruding eyes due to the prolongation of the eye axis. In addition to the symptoms of vision loss, high myopia is distinguished from simple myopia by the persistent progression of myopia, which is why it is also called progressive myopia. However, the more dangerous aspects of high myopia that need our attention are the complications. (1) Degeneration of the vitreous, choroid and retina due to structural abnormalities and nutritional disorders of the eye. (2) Atrophy of macular degeneration and posterior chylomicron due to prolongation of the ocular axis, scleral elongation, and abnormal biomechanical effects. (3) Amblyopia and strabismus due to low visual acuity and dysregulation of convergence function, etc. Why can’t people with high myopia play amusement park stimulation programs? The media has reported such an example, 32-year-old Mr. You took his family to an amusement park to play, both eyes are more than 1,000 degrees of myopia, Mr. You in order to better accompany the children, so a roller coaster ride, experience a thrill and excitement. The day after, Mr. You found that his right eye started to become unusually “hard” to see with his glasses on when he was getting ready for work in the morning. At noon, the discomfort in his eyes became stronger and stronger. At night, the upper right side of his eye was obviously blocked. Realizing the seriousness of the problem, Mr. You rushed to the hospital early the next morning. The doctor found that Mr. You’s retina was already showing symptoms of detachment, so he underwent a retinal repositioning surgery for Mr. You. In fact, Mr. You is not the only one who has suffered a retinal detachment due to amusement park stimulation, and the risk of retinal detachment is 30 times higher for people with high myopia than for those with normal vision, and the stronger the exposure, the more likely such risk is to occur. So what are the reasons why high myopia is prone to retinal detachment during strong stimulating activities? The main reason is that during high-speed sports like roller coaster rides, people become emotionally aroused by strong stimulation and eye movements increase significantly. The high myopia people’s eye axis is much longer than ordinary people, the corresponding retina will be much thinner, in the process of riding the stimulation project originally very thin retina is very easy to be pulled by the vitreous tissue in front of the fissure, then the liquid vitreous will flow from the fissure to cause the internal retina detachment. Doctor’s Advice In general, retinal detachment is usually painless. The first symptoms are loss of vision, dark shadows in front of the eyes, and frequent flashes of light. Once you notice these symptoms, whether you are highly myopic or not, it is likely that a retinal detachment has occurred and you should go to the hospital as soon as possible for an examination. If surgery is performed at the first opportunity before the retinal detachment reaches the macular area, the original vision level can be fully restored. If treatment is delayed, it is inevitable that some of the vision will be lost. In addition, patients with high myopia must pay more attention when performing heavy physical labor and strenuous sports in their daily life, in addition to not rubbing their eyes hard or riding amusement park stimulation programs.