Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide.3 Glaucoma is a very complex condition that has many risk factors, including myopia. Previous epidemiological studies have reported the increased risk of developing Glaucoma in myopic patients. These studies span multiple decades, ethnic groups and populations around the world. The studies are the Blue Mountain Eye Study, Barbados Eye Study, Beaver Dam Eye Study, Singapore Malay Eye Study, Beijing Eye Study, and Latino Eye Study. A recent study by Ha et al., in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, assessed the risk of Glaucoma depending on the degree of myopia. In that study, it was determined that for each 1.0 D increase of myopia the glaucoma risk increased 20%. This risk steepened at -6.0 D of myopia and even further steepened at -8.0 D.4
Prevalence of glaucoma in eyes with different refractive errors and different age groups. The prevalence of glaucoma increases with age and increased myopia.5