Diagnosis of myopia
To diagnose myopia, a full detailed history must be fulfilled first. The most key factors to focus while taking the history are age, ethnicity, gender, and if there is a family history of refraction error.
Your doctor will also ask you about specific diseases that may be associated with myopia such as down syndrome, marfan syndrome, Ehler-danlos syndrome, and diabetes mellitus.
“Examination of the eye”
The first steps in examination of the eye are to evaluate the structures of the eye with more detailed examination to
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- Eye length
- The corneal radius
- The crystalline lens powers
Measuring the axial length of the eye is valuable as it can give a clue about the rate of progression of myopia. Recent studies found that rate of eye axial elongation reaches the highest speed just before the onset of myopia.
Functional testing of the eye aims to
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- Measureof the refraction error
- Assessthe binocular vision
- Assessthe accommodation system of the eye
Retinal examination is crucial in the testing of the eye; as myopia can pose damaging impact on the retina, nearsightedness especially the degenerative type causes frequent stress on the retina that may lead to retinal tear and even detachment.
