Age-related refractive shifts in simple myopia.

BACKGROUND An understanding of physiologic age-related shifts in myopic refractive errors is important to the refractive surgeon for the interpretation of long-term results, surgical planning, and patient counseling. This study characterizes the refractive stability of adult simple myopia with a retrospective study of 413 eyes. METHODS Approximately 74,000 patient records were analyzed to identify 208 adults with -1.00 to -6.00 diopters (D) of myopia who were followed for more than 20 years at the Spokane Eye Clinic. Amounts of myopic shift (increase in myopia) and hyperopic shift (decrease in myopia) were identified and analyzed within the population. The results were compared to long-term studies of radial keratotomy. RESULTS The mean changes per patient age decade were: 20s, -0.60 D; 30s, -0.39 D; 40s, -0.29 D; 50s, +0.28 D; 60s, +0.41 D. Reanalyzed Prospective Evaluation of Radial Keratotomy (PERK) study 10-year postoperative data demonstrated progressively increasing hyperopic shifts per decade, at least to age 50. CONCLUSION The normal adult population with simple myopia differs from the general population and consists of a population subgroup that is relatively stable and other subgroups that experience significant refractive shift. The hyperopic shift after radial keratotomy appears to be surgically induced and may be larger than previously thought.