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Although myopia is such a common condition and is an important cause of ocular morbidity, surprisingly few articles on the subject are published in the current ophthalmic literature. This collection of articles presented at the Third International Conference on Myopia does something to redress the balance.
Subjects discussed were grouped into epidemiology, genetics, oculometry, accommodation, clinical investigations, experimental studies, the complications of myopia, prophylaxis, and treatment.
Experimental studies on monkeys, young tree shrews, and chickens suggest that accommodation is a factor in the development of myopia but although there is strong circumstantial evidence that near work is related to the development of myopia in children, other environmental factors cannot be excluded. Even highly heritable features such as anterior chamber depth seem to be affected by environmental factors.
If accommodation is a factor, the mechanism whereby it causes an increase in axial length is still unknown. A rise in pressure