Has my child got pathological myopia

[smrjka]

my child started wearing glasses at age 5 and he was -3.25 in both eyes, he stabilized till age 7 then at age 8 (currently) he became -4.75 in one eye and -4 in the other, so he deteriorated about -1.5 diopter in one year, is this sign of pathological myopia? I am -8 myself, but I started wearing glasses from age 10 not as early as him. I am worried that he would get even higher than me!

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

Only an ophthalmologist that has looked in the eyes can tell you about contact sports. Certainly I would avoid amusement rides that whip the head around like rollercoasters, bumper cars, etc.

The role of extended near work like reading, computers is still not completely understood. Again discuss with your Eye MD

JCH MD

[smrjka]

Also I would like to ask, at this stage are sports like football dangerous for his eyes, also whether games like Nintendo DS aggravate the problem? I mean to prevent him from playing DS I have to encourage him to play outside, and if ball sports are dangerous, what should I encourage him to do then?  

[smrjka]

The back of his eyes looked ok, but I am just imagining with this rate, he could have very high myopia when he grows up! Can you know from looking at the back of the eye if it is pathological myopia?

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

No it is not necessarily a sign of high myopia or pathological myopia. Disucss with your ophthalmologist

JCH MD