Pathologic findings in pathologic myopia

A retrospective study was conducted of 308 eyes with pathologic myopia obtained from 202 patients (23 surgical eyes; 285 post mortem eyes) over a 67-year period. Histopathologic findings and percentage of eyes affected, in decreasing order of frequency, were myopic configuration of the optic nerve head, 37.7%; posterior staphyloma, 35.4%; degenerative changes of the vitreous, 35.1%; cobblestone degeneration, 14.3%; myopic degeneration of the retina, 11.4%; retinal detachment, 11.4%; retinal pits, holes, or tears, 8.1%; subretinal neovascularization, 5.2%; lattice degeneration, 4.9%; Fuchs spot, 3.2%; and lacquer cracks, 0.6%. The reasons for enucleation in the surgically obtained eyes included, in decreasing order of frequency: degeneration after retinal detachment; secondary glaucoma; endophthalmitis; postsurgical epithelial ingrowth; expulsive hemorrhage; degeneration after cataract extraction; and presumed intraocular tumor. Clinicopathologic correlations are discussed.