My History With Pathologic Myopia

photo credit - Marta Branco

I was recently reminded by my mother about my vision issues as a child, one issue in particular I had was crossed eyes. I had somehow forgotten about this though my ophthalmologist asked me if I'd ever had crossed eyes as a child and I'd told him I hadn't. But yes, I did and when my mother reminded me it all came back - the patch I had to wear over my right eye in order to strengthen the left one and how I would struggle with her every time she tried to put it on my face because I absolutely hated wearing it.
 

I also remembered that just before starting kindergarten I received my first pair of eyeglasses. Even back then my glasses prescription were heavy (thick lenses) which looked very awkward on a four year-old or anyone to be honest. It seemed that I couldn't go a day without someone pointing, staring, or asking questions about my glasses. One question I was asked most often  was, “Are you blind?"

No one understood my vision issues then and for years I didn't understand it either. The only thing I knew, because I constantly heard it from my mother and the eye doctors, was I had poor vision. I was very nearsighted or highly myopic and needed to wear corrective lenses in order to see clearly. One thing I often wondered though was why my vision was so much worse than everyone else I knew who wore glasses, even those with high myopia.

As an adult, still trying to understand my vision issues I started searching for information about high myopia but I couldn't seem to find answers but to be honest I wasn't sure what I was searching for other than "high myopia" and "thick glasses."

There were a few articles available and blogs where myopia patients discussed how horrible it was for them to have high myopia at -6.0 diopters which made me wonder what they would think of having double or even triple that number. 

 Then the moment came when I finally got some answers. It was during my first visit to see the ophthalmologist due to detachment. After the examination was done my doctor said that there was a lot of pathology around my eyes. I didn't know what he meant at the time so I made a mental note to look it up. I could have just asked him what he meant but at the time I was more focused on details about the surgery. Later that evening I searched the medical term "pathology," along with word "myopia" and found "Pathological Myopia."

Pathological myopia is an extremely high amount of nearsightedness that causes a major alteration of the shape or globe of the eye, which may lead to profound vision loss. In the United States, it occurs in about 2% of the population and is the seventh leading cause of legal blindness. Thirty percent of all cases of pathological myopia occur at birth.  Sixty percent of patients are diagnosed with the condition between the ages 6 and 13, and it continues to progress throughout life.  Eye Associates  

I'd finally found the answer I'd been searching for - Pathological myopia (also known as Degenerative myopia) was the reason my issues with myopia was so different from others. I had never heard of Pathological myopia until earlier this year. In searches I'd done in the past I found a lot information about Retinal Detachment and Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) but nothing about pathological myopia which seems strange since pathological myopia is associated with those other disorders. 

None of the optometrists I'd seen in the past had ever mentioned pathological myopia to me. I don't know if it was because they all assumed that I already knew so they didn't bring it up or if it was because they didn't know about pathological myopia either, but whatever the case I'd been pretty much left in the dark, figuratively.
 

About a month ago during an appointment with my ophthalmologist I asked him if pathological myopia was something I was born with, which is another question I've always had. I've read many articles that say myopia is a condition possibly caused by too much close-up work, not enough sunlight, and reading in poor lighting but the doctor explained that my vision issues had nothing to do with too much close-up work, sunlight, etc., he said that in my case I most likely inherited it.

Finding out that my vision issues are more severe than I realized is scary because pathological myopia is a potentially blinding disorder, which I experienced with detachment but I am glad to finally know what it is I'm dealing with so I can learn more about it as well as what to expect and what I can do to save my vision.