Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Congenital and developmental myopia

Eye volume 6, pages 361–365 (1992)Cite this article

Abstract

Both hereditary and environmental factors are important in the interactive growth of the ocular tissues responsible for determining the refractive state of the eye. Myopia has a low prevalence in otherwise healthy children and is seen with an increased prevalence early in life in many systemic and ocular diseases. Predicting how refractive error will change in any individual child after birth or at any stage of ocular development is not possible at present, although, trends can be seen in longitudinal studies. In the disease states associated with an increased prevalence of myopia, information regarding the time of onset of myopia and the specific values for the refractive components, is lacking, so that underlying mechanisms of myopia development and whether the myopia is congenital or developmental, are not known. In adults, three different types of myopia can be characterised on the basis of clinical characteristics which have prognostic significance for ocular disease. The mechanisms of ocular growth that lead to these forms of myopia are not clear. At present, treatments to prevent or slow myopic progression have been marginally beneficial and of questionable value.

Download PDF

References

  1. Curtin BJ : ‘The Myopias’, Harper & Row, Publishers, Philadelphia 1985 pp. 17–27, 72-97, 169-175.

  2. Whitmore WG : The etiology of myopia. Curr On Ophthalmol 1991, 2: 72–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Schaeffel F and Howland HC : Mathematical model of emmetropization in the chicken. J Opt Soc Am 1988, 12: 2080–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Gordon RA, and Donzis PB : Refractice development of the human eye. Arch Ophthalmol 1985, 103: 785–9.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Banks MS : Infant refraction and accommodation. In Sokol S (Ed.), ‘Electrophysiology and Psychophysics: Their use in Ophthalmic Diagnosis’, Intl Ophth Clinics 1980, 20: 205–232.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Graham MV and Gray OP : Refraction in premature babies' eyes. Br Med J 1963, 5343: 1452–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Raviola E and Wiesel TN : An animal model of myopia. N Engl J Med 1985, 312: 1609–15.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Von Noorden GK and Lewis RA : Ocular axial length in unilateral congenital cataracts and blepharoptosis. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1987, 28: 750–2.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Johnson CA, Post RB, Chalapa LM, Lee J : Monocular deprivation in humans: a study of identical twins. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1982, 23: 135–8.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Hoyt CS, Stone RD, Fromer C, Billson FA : Monocular axial myopia associated with neonatal eyelid closure in human infants. Am J Ophthalmol 1981, 91: 197–200.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Gee SS and Tabbara KF : Increase in ocular axial length in patients with corneal opacification. Ophthalmol 1988, 95: 1276–8.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Twomey JM, Gilvarry A, Restori M, Kirkness CM, Moore AT, Holden AL : Ocular enlargement following infantile corneal opacification. Eye 1990, 4: 497–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Holland PM and Anderson B : Myelinated nerve fibers and severe myopia. Am J Ophthalmol 1976, 81: 597–601.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Summers CG, Romig L, Lavoie JD : Unexpected good results after therapy for anisometropic amblyopia associated with unilateral peripapillary myelinated nerve fibers. J Ped Ophthalmol Strabismus 1991, 28: 134–36.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Miller-Meeks MJ, Bennet SR, Keech RV, Blodi CF : Myopia induced by vitreous haemorrhage. Am J Ophthalmol 1990, 109: 199–203.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Weiss A . and Ross EA : Axial myopia in eyes with optic nerve hypoplasia. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1990, Arvo abstracts, 31: 277.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Egbert JE and France TD : Myopia associated with optic nerve hypoplasia in humans. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1990, ARVO Abstracts, 31: 277.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Robb RM : Refractive errors associated with hemangiomas of the eyelid and orbit in infancy. Am J Ophthalmol 1977, 83: 52–8.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Jensen H : Myopia progression in young schoolchildren: A prospective study of myopia progression and the effect of a trial with bifocal lenses and beta blocker eye drops. Acta Ophthalmol 1991, 200 (supplement): 1–78.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Wallman J : Retinal influences on sciera underlie visual deprivation myopia. In, ‘Myopia and the Control of Eye Growth’, Ciba Foundation Symposium 155, Wiley and Sone, New York, 1990, pp. 126–34.

  21. Coleman DJ : Unified model for accommodation. Am J Ophthalmol 1970, 69: 1063–9.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Brodstein RS, Brodstein DE, Olsen RJ, Hunt SC, Williams RR : The treatment of myopia with atropine and bifocals. Ophthalmol 1984, 91: 1373–8.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Dyer JA : Role of cycloplegics in progressive myopia. Ophthalmol 1979, 86: 692–6.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Parssinen O, Hemminki E, Klemetti A : Effect of spectacle use and accommodation on myopic progression: final results of a three-year randomised clinical trial among schoolchildren. Br J Ophthalmol 1989, 73: 547–51.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Pruett RC : Progressive myopia and intraocular pressure: what is the linkage? Acta Ophthalmol 1988, 66 (Supplement 185): 117–27.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Van Alphen GW : Emmetropization in the primate eye. In ‘Myopia and the Control of Eye Growth’, Ciba Foundation Symposium 155, Wiley and Sons, New York, 1990, pp. 115–125.

  27. Goldschmidt E : Myopia in humans: can progression be arrested? In ‘Myopia and the Control of Eye Growth’, Ciba Foundation Symposium 155 Wiley and Sons, New York, 1990, pp, 222–9.

  28. Grosvenor T and Goss DA : The role of bifocal and contact lenses in myopia control. Ada Ophthalmol 1988, 66 (Supplement 185): 162–6.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Curtin BJ and Whitmore WG : Long-term results of scleral reinforcement surgery. Am J Ophthalmol 1987, 103: 544–8.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Whitmore WG and Curtin BJ : Scierai reinforcement. Two case reports. Ophthalmic Surg 1987, 18: 503–5.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Whitmore WG, Harrison W, Curtin BJ : Scierai reinforcement in rabbits using synthetic graft materials. Ophthalmic Surg 1990, 21: 327–30.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Sergienko NM, Lemziakov GG, Denisiuk NB, Radokhleb OM : Sposob khirurgicheskogo lecheniia progressiruiush-chei, vysokoi i oslozhnennoi blizorukosti (A method of surgical treatment of progressive and complicated myopia). Oftalmol Zh 1990, 3: 157–60.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Bushueva NN : Otdalennye rezul'taty razlichnykh metodov skleroukrepliaiushchikh operatsii u detei i podrostkov, stra-daiushchikh progressiruiushchei blizorukost'iu (The late results of different methods of sclera-reinforcing operations on children and adolescents suffering from progressive myopia). Oftalmol Zh 1989, 4: 194–8.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Es'kova NK, Kiseleva OA, Morozova, IV : Sluchai iz prak-tiki. Sluchai dvukhstoronnei otsloiki setchatki posle operatsii sklero-plastiki (A clinical case. A case of bilateral retinal detachment after scleroplasty). Vestn Oftalmol 1990, 106: 60–1.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Whitmore WG and Curtin BJ : Inhibition of ocular growth in rabbits with transcleral cryotherapy of anterior retina. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1990, ARVO Abstracts, 31: 132.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Iuvone PM, Tigges M, Stone RA, Lammbert S, Laties AM : Effects of apomorphine, a dopamine receptor agonist, on ocular refraction and axial elongation in a primate model of myopia. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1991, 32: 1674–7.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Stone AS, Lin T, Iuvone PM, Laties AM : Postnatal control of ocular growth: dopminergic mechanisms. In, Myopia and the Control of Eye Growth, Ciba Foundation Symposium 155, Wiley and Sons, New York, 1990 pp. 44–57.

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. New York Hospital — Cornell University Medical Center, New York, New York

    Wayne G Whitmore

Authors
  1. Wayne G Whitmore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Whitmore, W. Congenital and developmental myopia. Eye 6, 361–365 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1992.74

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1992.74

Further reading

Search

Advanced search

Quick links