What is Magna Myopia?

Myopia Magna or Pathological Myopia is a potentially disabling disease and one of the leading causes of blindness in patients under 50 years of age. In Europe, the prevalence of blindness attributable to pathological myopia ranges from 2.6% in Denmark to 8.8% in Wales.

In addition, myopia is an important risk factor for the appearance of retinal detachment, with more than 40% of retinal detachments occurring in myopic eyes.

What is the cause?

The changes that occur in the myopic eye, by anteroposterior axial elongation, lead to the formation of several structural breaks in the anatomical layers of the eye. In addition, excessive myopic eye growth causes thinning of the peripheral retina and the early onset of posterior vitreous detachment, factors that lead to increased occurrence of retinal detachment in these patients.

What problems does it cause?

The most common problems of patients with large myopia are:

• Retinal detachment - by the appearance of a greater number of degenerative lesions of the peripheral retina;
• Myopic macular hole;
• Subretinian neovascular membrane (development of blood vessels under the retina);
• Macular retinoschisis (separation of the layers of the retina);
• Changes in the optic nerve.

What are the symptoms?

Patients with high myopia may have blurred vision or see distorted lines (metamorphosis). But not all retinal lesions have symptoms.

Treatment

There is no specific treatment for myopia, so the treatment is based on an early diagnosis of complications. It is therefore fundamental that these patients perform periodic evaluations by Retina specialists.