Optical And Neural Limits Of Visual Performance In Myopia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$191,902.00
Summary
Short-sightedness (myopia) is one of our most common eye problems, affecting approximately 20% of people. It is usually due to the eye becoming too long for its power. While we can correct short-sight with contact lenses, spectacles and more recently refractive surgery, recent evidence shows that the vision of corrected myopes is poorer than that of people who have good distance vision without the need for an optical correction. This reduction is present even when the optical minification of spe ....Short-sightedness (myopia) is one of our most common eye problems, affecting approximately 20% of people. It is usually due to the eye becoming too long for its power. While we can correct short-sight with contact lenses, spectacles and more recently refractive surgery, recent evidence shows that the vision of corrected myopes is poorer than that of people who have good distance vision without the need for an optical correction. This reduction is present even when the optical minification of spectacle lenses is taken into account (the lenses used to correct short-sightedness make objects look smaller). It is possible that the anatomical changes to the eye that occur in short-sightedness are the cause of the reduced vision. Even if the optics can be fully corrected with refractive surgery, as is now being proposed, this may not result in excellent vision. The anatomical changes may occur in different parts of the eye and depending on where they occur the nature of the visual reduction will vary. The location of the retinal changes may also be important in terms of eventual pharmacological treatments for short-sightedness. In addition, the significance of the visual reduction, in terms of its effect on the functioning of short-sighted people, e.g. ability to perform under less than optimal visual conditions such as in the presence of glare or reduced light levels, is not known. We plan to investigate this by identifying the optical and neural contributions to visual performance in short-sighted people.Read moreRead less
Uncovering The Aetiology Of Myopia Through Identification Of Refraction And Ocular Biometric Genes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$697,786.00
Summary
Myopia or short-sightedness affects 1 in 4 people in the Western world and is a major source of uncorrected vision loss, as well as blindness. This proposal aims to identify genes in myopia using a new technique called genome wide association. We will apply this technique to individuals collected through a population based Eye study to allow us to identify these genes. The outcomes of this work will allow us to identify high risk individuals as well as develop new measures to prevent myopia.