THE ROLE OF NEURAL AND OPTICAL FACTORS IN LIMITING VISUAL RESOLUTION IN MYOPIA

The myopic growth process has the potential to modify both the optical and neural performance of the eye. We provide three simple models, ba sed on different types of retinal stretching, to predict changes in ne ural resolution resulting from axial length increases in myopia. These predictions are compared to visual acuity (VA) measures in 34 subject s with refractive errors ranging from piano to - 14 D. Our results sho w a reduction in VA with increasing myopia but not in a manner predict ed by our models. We discuss the relative contribution of optical and neural factors to the reduction in visual resolution in myopia. (C) 19 98 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.