High Myopia - Is there anybody out there?

[sophia35]

Hi everyone.

I'm 35,with  really high myopia ( -17 in left eye and -22 in right eye)astigmatism  and cataract in right eye not impairing sight. Use rigid gas permeable contacts and get along "fine".

Have had gas bubble in left eye and laser in both for retinal tears/holes.
The only procedure I'm considering is IOL when absolutely necessary.

I've never heard of anyone with myopia this high. i'm really worried about future prospects.

I know people with similar conditions can have different outcomes but can anyone with high myopia ( even if not like mine) please give any input or useful information?

Many thanks.

Wishing you all the best,
Sophia

[JohnHaganMD]

First of all follow your heart's desire and if computer programming is where your interest and skills lead you go for it and don't worry about it damaging your eyes.  You have high myopia. It's not possible to look at your age and glasses RX and tell you how much, if any, your myopia will progress. I'm hoping with your glasses your vision is 20/20 (6/6 metric) or close to it. I'm also hoping that you have not been told you have any myopic macular degeneration.  There is at present in extraocular (outside the eye) refractive surgery that would correct all your myopia.  Depending on the thickness of your cornea surface lasik might reduce 6-9 diopters of myopia.  An ICL (intraocular collamer lens) could correct all your myopia but it involves surgery within the eye with its associated risks and recent studies have identified a significant risk of subsequent cataracts (often requiring surgery) and possibly glaucoma. There is also what is called refractive lens exchange which involves removing your natural lens and putting in an intraocular lens (IOL) this also involves risks including increased of retinal detachment.  I'm wondering if you wear contact lens at present as the vision with contact lens is going to be much better than glasses since the image with contacts is much larger than with your strong glasses.  So there is no perfect solution to your high myopia nor anyway to predict what will happen to your eyes in the future. HOWEVER high myopes that go into law, or medicine or computer programing which involves a lot of reading and computer use do not end up with much worse vision than high myopes that do manual labor and do not do much near work at all.  Best of luck.  

[ashvmegha]

hello doctor i am megha 21 year old and persuing studies in computer science. I wear myopic glasses of -17.5 left and-18 of ryt eye. my number is not stable till now and some doctors says that with this much high power laser and operation is not possible. I have visited many places and i am tired as i clearly want to know what the upcoming scenario of my eye is. My parents want me to emphasis least in my field and i am madly intrested in computer programming i dont know what to do plz plz you guide me and show me the correct path plz,i shall be waiting for your reply sir plz look out my problem as soon as possible and mail me the optimum solution of this problem plz

[ronney352]

hello.i am from india and also suffering from high myopia.i wish i have friends with whom i can share and talk about this.well noone can help but atleast talking to someone suffering from same thing,makes you feel better.

[JohnHaganMD]

Something is not right. It is almost impossible for you to have myopia of -38 (you don't mean -3.8 do you?) and 4 diopters of astimatism. If its not an abnormal cornea (most common) then you may have a dislocating lens or other lens abnormality. You would see the best corena/refractive surgeon you can get to for a second opinion and also discuss "refractive lens exchange"  Taking the lens of your eye out and putting in IOL to get read of that incapacitating  myopia.  There is something elese going on besides "late onset high myopia.
What is your RX on the other eye. What is you vision in each eye with correction?

[bracesfan]

No corneal problem and luckily no keratoconus. Just very high late onset myopia and very narrow visual field due to 20 mm lenticular bowl.

[JohnHaganMD]

Did you mean your RX is -38 and 4 diopters of astigmatism. If this started at 32 its likely you have corneal disease, likely keratoconus rather than high myopia.  

[bracesfan]

Hi, I´m 54 with late onset high myopia and astigmatism. Starting at 32 on 3 diopters. My last exam gave -38 D and -4 D astigmatism. Wearing double lenticulars and scleral RGPs. Fortunately no other problems.