Wife has very high myopia (-16) — looking for long-term experiences
My wife is 38 and has very high/pathological myopia, approximately -15 in one eye and -16 in the other. I’m hoping to hear from people who have lived with similar levels of myopia for many years, especially people now in their 50s, 60s, or older.
Her situation currently seems reassuring. Her corrected vision is 20/20 in one eye and 20/25 in the other. Her doctor describes her myopic degeneration as mild. She has lattice degeneration that was previously treated with barrier laser, and a mild epiretinal membrane. Her recent doctor said she has no macular atrophy, posterior staphyloma, or lacquer cracks and wasn’t concerned about severe vision loss. Her previous retinal OCT also didn’t show macular edema or subretinal fluid, and the retina specialist didn’t find new retinal holes or tears.
She will continue seeing a retina specialist for monitoring.
I’m particularly interested in real-life experiences from people with prescriptions around -12 to -20 or worse:
- How old are you now, and what is your prescription?
- Has your prescription remained stable as you’ve gotten older?
- Have your retina/macula remained stable?
- Have you developed any complications? If so, were they treatable?
- What is your corrected vision today?
- Have you been able to live a normal life with high myopia?
- For those who have had high myopia for decades, what do you wish you had known when you were younger?
I’m not looking for a diagnosis or a prediction of what will happen to my wife. Her doctors are handling that. I’m mainly hoping to understand what long-term life with very high myopia has actually looked like for other people.