Hi,
(I apologize in advance for a lengthy post!)
I am 20 years old and have high myopia (OS -9.75 Sph. and -1.25 cyl. and OD -8.75 sph. and 0.75 cyl.). Until about a year and a half ago I didn't know i had high myopia, i thought it was pretty mild. I have always had excellent corrected vision, occasionally noticing the odd floater but that was it. No one ever bothered to tell me about the risk of RD etc. I first got glasses at age 5 right after starting school, and made numerous visits to an eye hospital (not an optometrist) between the ages of 5-10 where they dilated my eyes, made me look at some awesome pictures that i recall seemed to look 3D etc. I recently asked my mother why i had to go to an eye hospital and she told me it was just because my eyes changed quite rapidly, but my eyes where healthy, that's why i stopped going at about age 10 (might have been earlier). I only wore my glasses part time for reading/watching tv/classroom until age 12 when i was not far off -5.00, then i got contact lenses. As i said i was not informed about the risk of RD. During high school i received numerous blows to the head, got jabbed in the eye countless times and never had any problems. However a classmate of mine got RD and seemed to have somewhat less myopia than me, he also never got hit on the head or jabbed in the eye, it just seemed to happen one day. I am trying to understand if all high myopes are at the same risk level or do things like family history, blood pressure, diet etc have any effect on risk levels?
Also after i found out last year that i was highly myopic and read about floaters, i started seeing them more and more until now i cannot go outside without them really bothering me, if i squint in bright light i can even see what looks like showers of faint ones, and some older ones have gotten a lot darker. Do you think these have recently appeared or this is just me tuning into them? I had an optomap exam 7 months ago and the doctor said my retina was very healthy. After asking about thinning she said there was some thinning in one part but she said that was normal for everyone, asked if everyone meant high myopes or general population, and she said the general population and said it was normal and nothing to worry about. Is this true? Do normal people get thinning?
Unfortunately since finding out about all these risks my life has not been so great, i have pretty bad anxiety issues and all i have thought about for the last year has been my sight, am i going to lose it etc. About 6 months ago i started seeing permanent afterimages appear and some lasted hours before going away, and then in may one appeared and stayed for weeks. I got a regular eye exam, my doc said possibly a retinal hole, then she looked over my optomap record and completely changed her mind said its probably nothing, come back in 6 months if you really feel you need a dilation. I came back after about a week and saw another doctor, she did a really thorough dilation exam, and said my retina looked very healthy still and there was nothing to worry about. She said whatever was causing the afterimage was a mystery, she suggested possibly a migraine. After a few more weeks my vision returned to normal. Then last week i got the same thing in happen in the other eye, it has now mostly faded but i can still see it from time to time and when i blink. Any idea what this could be, and should i be worried?
My eye pressure was normal, 13 and then 14 a week later. I have a caffeine problem, i drink a lot of coffee and tea, have since i was about 10. I asked my doc if i should stop and she said no it was fine. Should i stop? or cut down? Does caffeine increase the risk of complications?
I am a very health conscious person and have been for the past 8 years, Never smoked, balanced diet, ate oily fish rather than meat, drink infrequently (less than once a month), exercise regularly, supplement with a multi-vitamin, 9mg lutein and a spoon of fish oil a day. I have no family history of blindness, glaucoma, or retinal problems, although my immediate relatives all experience floaters despite having far milder myopia than me. My grandmother (in her mid 70s) is a quite nearsighted (not sure how much, pretty sure less than me though) and still sees fine. My question is, do i stand a good chance, based on the information i have provided, of maintaining good vision to an old age, by old i mean like 80+. Are there lifelong high myopes out there who reach old age without any real problems? Or does high myopia mean eventually something will definitely go wrong? If there are people who don't have any real issues, is it a majority or a minority? Do all high myopes eventually get glaucoma? And can i continue to live an active lifestyle or should i be seriously restricting my activity (i have read in many places that i shouldn't even go running, although my doc didn't place any limitations on activities)
I apologise again for the long post and for asking so many questions, i just can't seem to get any answers anywhere and i would really like to stop worrying. Any help greatly appreciated!