Current status of high myopia blindness and treatment

  High myopia is the leading cause of blindness in different countries of the world, ranking from the 4th to the 9th most common blindness-causing disease in different regions. Due to the high prevalence of myopia in Asia, high myopia macular degeneration is the most important disease causing blindness. According to Japanese scholars, macular degeneration caused by high myopia is the first cause of blindness in Japan, and according to our scholars, high myopic macular degeneration is the second cause of low vision blindness. Especially important is that high myopic macular degeneration occurs at the age of 40-60 when visual impairment and blindness occur, which is the golden age of achievement in life, and high myopic macular degeneration causes significant loss to their life and society.  Posterior scleral staphyloma is an important factor in the aggravation of macular degeneration in high myopia. High myopia is generally defined as a near refractive error greater than -6.0D, or an eye axis length of 26.5mm or more, especially in patients with refractive error greater than -8.0D who are more likely to develop macular degeneration. After studying the natural course of macular degeneration in more than 500 patients with high myopia over a 10-year follow-up period, it was found that the formation of posterior scleral staphyloma is the main factor in the development and deterioration of macular degeneration in high myopia, and it was suggested that treatment of posterior scleral staphyloma is the most direct and effective treatment for macular degeneration in high myopia.  The current main treatments for high myopic macular degeneration include vitrectomy and vitrectomy combined with internal membrane peeling to reduce the radial vitreous traction of high myopia, but the results of the surgery vary widely in different studies. For the advanced stage of high myopia maculopathy – choroidal neovascularization in the macula – current treatments include anti-VEGF vitreous cavity injections, photodynamic therapy or surgical removal of subretinal neovascularization. Anti-VEGF vitreous cavity injections and photodynamic therapy are costly and require multiple treatments. In addition, neovascular factor is an important component in maintaining the activity of the retinal pigment epithelium, and pigment epithelial atrophy is a major pathologic change in highly myopic macular degeneration. Anti-neovascular factor treatment may cause further deterioration of the already atrophied pigment epithelium in highly myopic patients. Surgical removal of subretinal neovascularization is surgically difficult, with poor postoperative visual recovery, and has largely been abandoned.  Posterior scleral reinforcement uses different materials to reinforce the posterior sclera. Due to the uncertainty of the source of surgical materials and the inability to precisely locate the position of pressure during surgery, the surgical effect of posterior scleral reinforcement is inaccurate, and its clinical application has gradually decreased after the 1980s. Some scholars studied the use of illuminated compression devices for posterior scleral compression, but the devices are complicated and inconvenient for surgical operation.  Therefore, high myopia posterior scleral staphyloma is an important factor causing macular degeneration in high myopia, and the current clinical treatment efficacy is inexact, and further clinical and basic research is needed.