Myopic degeneration

[myopic74]

Three months ago I noticed a waviness and grey patch in the central vision of my left eye. I went to the RS, and had a eye exam and OCT done, and it was found to be a bleeding from laquer crack. Both the waviness and grey patch has since been gone, and I believe there is a very slight effect (vision seems not as clear as before, tho it's quite slight) on my left eyesight. The RS explained that this was due to the thinning of the RPE and retina, and there is at present not much I or they can do to arrest the issue. I am 33, and have very severe myopia, L-18.00D R-20.00D. Been wearing specs since very young.

Dear doc, could you advise me based on your experiences, what will the future holds for le like me who has very high myopia? Am I right to say the potential of going blind or visually challenged in future is very high? What will the most important factor that will determine how bad my eye condition will get in future? It seems like my myopia has not stabilised, despite the fact that it should stabilised in your early twenties.

Is there any older people out there with severe myopia and still coping well with their sight?

I've been very worried ever since this episode. Before that, I never know and therefore, never worry, that high myopia will lead to so much complications later in life. And now the posibilities of all these happening seems so real. To make matter worse, my girlfriend, whom I have the intention to get married, is also very severely short-sighted (about 11D and 13D), and has lazy eye in one eye. I kept thinking what will the future holds for us if we shall get together. It certainly looks bleak, very bleak.. I really can't imagine about the future as the potential of both of us going blind one day seems so real!

Doc, what do you think we should do??? Any advices will be appreciated.  

[Sym 11]

You may consider to have sclera buckle to stop the stretching.  

[pigeonca]

Thanks so much for the supplement advice.  I'll look into it ASAP.  And yes, it's mind-boggling that a doctor would smoke in front of a patient.  But I gather that they're getting a bit more anti-cigarette in Europe and Israel since I was there last in the late 90s.  Sure hope so.  I live in California where smokers are pariahs, which is fine with me.

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

In re-reading the conversation thread I don't think I commented on fish oil supplements. There is some evidence that it might help the blood vessels on the back of the eye stay healthy, help dry eyes, obviously help the heart a lot and possibly reduce the risk of neovascularization.

Be sure the fish oil is high grade and free of impurities. As your personal physician or ophthalmologist for the recommended dosage. If you have problems with a fishy taste and burping when you take them try enteric coated fish oil.

There are many good brands out there. The one I use is from cardiotaps (omega 3's)  www.cardiotabs.com      All profits from these sales are used for heart researach.


Also AREDS supplements (age related eye disease studies) may help, I would pick one that has lutein in it (vitimen's like Centrum have virtually no lutein). Popular brands are: EyeCap, Ocuvite and Preservision with Lutein. Be sure and take the proper dose which will be listed on the bottle. NONE OF THESE ARE ONE PER DAY. They are either two or four per day.

As an aside: any doctor that smokes in front of a patient ought to be put on administrative leave and sent to a smoking cessation camp and doctor behavior school. Sad, sad, sad.

JCH III MD  EYe MD

[pigeonca]

My myopia is not stable.  Right after surgery I needed a half a diopter and a little bit of astigmatism correction in one eye, and a diopter and a half plus astigmatism in the other (that's for distance - for reading I had another prescription, and yet another for computer work).  These prescriptions are a bit complicated, because the surgery aimed to give me monovision, and in an imperfect manner it did succeed - at least for the first few years.  As of this date, I can still read a bit without glasses, but unless I absolutely had to, wouldn't dare drive a car unassisted.

It's been close to ten years since the surgery, and my myopia has increased by about a diopter.  But I'm starting from close to 0.0, so I figure I'll be wearing 4 diopters at the age of 93.  I can live with that.

As far as degenerative changes, I - like so many high myopes - have several retinal holes, which were monitored for years and which appear to have healed themselves.  Had vitreous detachments in both eyes, including one in Israel where the doctor smoked a cigarette while examining me.  That was a trip.

Good health and good eyesight to you too.  Be well.

[myopic74]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing! Hearing from you is an encouragement for me!

I am glad that you are still seeing such good vision. Really hope I can also be like you (still seeing well) when I am at your age, though I think that may not be quite possible due to the already existing degenerative changes at the back of my eyes.

Maybe can you share with me about how old then your myopia began to stabilise?

I wish you good health and good eyesight always! And don't forget to go for regular eye check-up, which I believe is quite important for highly myopic people like us.

[pigeonca]

I've worn glasses since the age of 6, probably needed them for many years before that.  At the age of 53 I wore -14.5D in one eye and -16D in the other. I started to have problems in my late 40s, seeing double in my left eye.  It took four doctors, but finally one detected the cataract that caused the problem.  Being so myopic, I was focusing about an inch from my eyeball, so I was seeing a tiny aberration of the lens that wouldn't bother a person with normal vision.

The doctor did cataract surgery, put in an IOL with my prescription, and a month later did the same procedure on the other eye - which didn't have a cataract - to balance the two eyes.  Apparently it's difficult to get an exact hit when you're starting with minus 16 diopters, and also he corrected my vision to monovision (distant in my bad eye, close in my good), but I now i am able to read for short periods of time unassisted, and can drive without glasses.  However, I prefer wearing glasses, with a minimal prescription, because I like to see as sharply as possible.  I'm now 63, and my vision, in glasses, is 20/20 in one eye and 20/25 in the other.