Re: Advanced Myopia

Posted By Elena on July 18, 1999 at 21:26:03
My son has been diagnosed with advanced Myopia (8). He is now 18 years old. Can you tell me which would be the best way to correct this- laser, surgical, or this ring which I've heard of which fits over the eye? If his optical nerve is atrophied, is there any hope?
Thank you for your attention.
Elena

[HFHS MD JL]

Posted By HFHS MD-JL on July 18, 1999 at 22:23:20
First of all advance myopia is not usually associated with optic nerve atrophy.  At this age I would not consider anything other than glasses because his vision may change and the laser procedure or ring may lose its effectiveness.  If his vision is not correctable with glasses than I would recommend further evaluation by a retina specialist.  Good luck.
This information was provided for educational purposes only.
HFHS MD-JL

[John__0__0]

Posted By John on July 19, 1999 at 18:30:34
LASIK is great surgery, but it is only performed on people over the age of 21, and only then if their vision has been stable for at least two years (because there's no point doing it if the vision is still in the process of changing). People with myopia often continue getting more shortsighted until about the early 20's (because that's when physical growth winds up).
A refraction of -8 is certainly correctable by LASIK (in fact, it's possible to correct anything up to -20, but the higher you go, the more likely it is that there will be a slight shortfall in the correction, i.e. the patient may end up still a little bit shortsighted - but it's still a vast improvement on the original situation).











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