Damayanti Mallappa Suranagi, Theerthavathi Gowdanakatte Lingadevaru
BACKGROUND The refractive error around the globe has been estimated to be around 800 million to 2.4 billion. Refractive errors are the most common cause of visual disorders. Amongst them myopia is the most common disorder. As per the 2001-02 national survey on blindness in India, refractive errors accounts for 19.7% of total blindness. METHODS Anterior segments of 150 eyes of patients were examined using slit lamp biomicroscope. The visual acuity, cycloplegic refraction, retinoscopy, fundoscopy were done for all the selected patients after obtaining an informed consent. The axial lengths that were obtained using A-scan were correlated with the degree of myopia. They were further sub classified on the basis of age, sex, familial factors and complications. RESULTS In this study, out of 150 eyes Females constituted 65.06% of the total cases while males constituted 34.93% of the total cases. Subjects having less than -6D constituted 69.9% of the cases. The degree of myopia progressively increased with increase in axial lengths particularly in those with greater than -6D. Myopia of greater than -15D was commonly associated with degenerative changes. Severity increases with increase in axial lengths. Lower degrees of myopia have good corrected visual acuities while the longer axial lengths having higher grades of myopia had worst corrected visual acuities. CONCLUSIONS All patients showed an increase in the axial length, which was greater for highly myopic eyes. High degrees of myopia associated with complications may require careful follow up.
