| To date, there was little information on the early changes in the retina, as well as the consequence of high myopia among schoolchildren and adolescents that would lead to retinal complications or other ocular pathologies. This study investigated the effectiveness of retinal screening with the Optomap ultra wide field scanning laser ophthalmoscope and found that sensitivity and specificity was averaged 76.4% and 71.9%, respectively, as compared with standard dilated fundus examination with binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy. The Optomap is a complementary method to the standard dilated fundus examination but not a substitute, especially in a high risk group of having retinal lesions such as the high myopic population.;The myopia related retinal changes in high myopic adolescents were investigated. Among those retinal changes, there were 0.8% sight-threatening changes, 2.5% posterior pole changes, and 61.7% peripheral retinal changes. Myopia related fundus changes could appear in early life in high myopic eyes. The five most frequent retinal lesions found in the eyes were; optic nerve crescents (52.5%), white-without-pressure (51.7%), lattice degeneration (5.8%), microcystoid degeneration (5%) and pigmentary degeneration (4.2%). There is a higher chance of having retinal lesions in eyes with axial lengths exceeding 26.5 mm between 12 - 18 years of age.;To further understand how the retina changes in a bigger eye, this study established the retinal thickness profiles in the central horizontal eighty degrees in myopic and non-myopic eyes. From 40 degree nasal to 40 degree temporal retina, retinal thickness was approximately 7% thinner in myopic eyes compared to the non-myopic eyes. Although myopic eyes were more likely to have peripheral lesions, there is no evidence that relates retinal thickness as an important factor associated with these lesions.;In conclusion, high myopia may lead to ocular complications especially at the retina, even in younger age. Axial length measurement is encouraged for high myopic subjects since it might be a predictor for peripheral retinal lesions. The thinning of the retina in high myopic eyes is a general reduction in thickness, at least within the central 80 degrees. |
