High myopia.. is it pathological?

[JenBainbridge]

Hi!

I’m 29 and have had myopia for as long as I can remember. I always knew my eyesight was bad but a recent google search has terrified me after someone telling me how bad my eyesight was.

I’m -8.5 in my right eye and -9.5 in my left and have fine vision with my contact lenses.

It hasn’t changed too much in the past 8 or 9 years and was stable for about 3 years but my recent eye exam has shown a change of -0.5 in my right eye and -1.0 in my left.

My retina was checked in the exam and he said everything looks healthy and my eyes look good (apart from the myopia).

But I’m now panicking that I have pathological myopia and I will eventually lose my sight. I was really disheartened when my vision changed again as I thought it would have stablized by now and I really don’t want it to keep getting worse (even though my eye doctor has assured me there’s nothing I’m doing wrong).

My vision has never been made a big deal of by my eye doctor and when I was trying to quiz him his response was that he couldn’t really say and hopefully I’ll have good vision for years to come.

I guess my questions are - does it sound like pathological myopia? This has never been mentioned to me by my eye doctors.

Do I have a good chance at having decent vision for most of my life?

Thanks so much for any advice given x

[JenBainbridge]

I should add - I don’t think it’s changed too much in the past few years. When I was 22 it was -7.5 in both eyes and now (at 29) it’s L: - -9.5 and R -8.5 (this is in contacts).

I think I developed myopia when I was about 8 so the changes must’ve been much bigger prior to that.

I just feel quite frightened for my future - I have a good job I worked really hard for and a lovely husband and I’m scared of how this might affect our life. I’m also questioning whether we should have children because I don’t want to pass it on to them.

Thanks again!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

You are not alone. Read about the world-wide increase of myopia including high myopia especially in Asia.   If you are loving and responsible parents it would be silly not to have children because you thought they might be myopic also.   Lot of research going on. By the time your children are 5-10 years of age we may have a cure/effective treatment.

[JenBainbridge]

Thanks for your response. Google is a very scary place for people with high myopia!

Is it unusual that my vision hasn’t stablized yet? I know that it’s usually early 20’s but I’ve read the higher the prescription the later it tends to stablize.

Thanks.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Your "eye doctor" should be an Eye MD ophthalmologist. When you have your eyes checked annually the pupils should always be dilated and a macular/nerve fiber layer OCT done.  You should live a healthy lifestyle, avoid getting obese, not use any nicotine products and avoid eye trauma and contact sports and amusement type thrill rides that whip the head about.

You have "high myopia"  Pathological myopia would mean you develop complications of high myopia such as macular degeneration, retina tears/detachments or glaucoma. Not everyone that has high myopia develops pathological myopia.  Living a healthy lifestyle and seeing an eye MD annually can reduce the risks.

Doing so the odds are very much in your favor of having good vision all your life.