Myopic people should be careful, be careful of retinal detachment when exercising like this

Xiao Lin, a sophomore, was playing badminton with his friends. After a graceful jump and smash, Xiao Lin suddenly felt a black spot in front of his right eye and his vision became blurred. At the time, he thought it was nothing serious until he woke up the next day and found that his eyes were uncomfortable and he could not see the objects below with his right eye. He immediately went to see a doctor, but was diagnosed with retinal detachment and needed emergency retinal reattachment surgery. Huang Zhongwei, director of the Department of Ophthalmology at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, reminds that if patients with moderate to severe myopia experience dark shadows or flashing lights and decreased vision in front of their eyes after strenuous exercise, this may be a precursor to retinal detachment and they should go to the hospital for examination in time to determine whether retinal detachment has occurred.

According to Huang Zhongwei, among people with high myopia, about 10% may develop retinal diseases of varying degrees. The incidence of retinal detachment in patients with moderate to severe myopia is 8-10 times that of the general population, because it is a relatively serious complication and the violent vibration of the vitreous body of the eye can easily cause retinal detachment. The causes of the disease are more complicated. In terms of internal causes, the main reason is that the retinal tissue of patients with high myopia becomes fragile due to degeneration and atrophy, which can easily lead to retinal detachment and blindness. The external cause is mainly the sudden impact of relatively strong external force, which is transmitted through the vitreous body, causing retinal rupture, resulting in retinal detachment and blindness.

"When patients with high myopia do strenuous exercise, the vitreous body in the eyeball has a very weak supporting effect due to liquefaction. When the exercise stops, the vitreous body continues to move, so it is easy to produce an impact and pulling effect on the retina. In addition, if the eyeball is directly or indirectly subjected to external force, retinal detachment is very likely to occur." Huang Zhongwei said, "Patients with high myopia often also have retinal degeneration, atrophy, and thinning. The retina is more fragile than that of ordinary people, which is an internal factor for retinal detachment. Therefore, if people with high myopia suddenly experience decreased vision, black shadows floating in front of their eyes, especially when there is a flash like lightning, or they feel that there is a fixed black shadow covering their eyes, they should go to the hospital to see a specialist ophthalmologist as soon as possible. This may be a precursor symptom of lesions such as retinal detachment or macular hemorrhage.

He reminded that patients with high myopia should not participate in sprinting, diving, as well as strenuous or confrontational sports such as basketball, volleyball, football, bungee jumping, boxing, roller coasters, etc. Those who must participate should be careful and protect their eyes. It is recommended that patients with high myopia and poor eyesight should engage in daily exercises such as Tai Chi and jogging that are not likely to hurt the eyeballs. In addition, he also suggested that people with high myopia should dilate their eyes to check their fundus, vision and optometry once a year. After all, retinal detachment is a serious eye disease and may cause blindness if not treated in time.

Severe myopia?

Myopia is divided into different degrees. Refractive error with a degree greater than 600 degrees (>400 degrees for children) is called high myopia.

Huang Zhongwei said that many patients with high myopia have improved their vision through excimer laser, femtosecond laser or lens implant surgery and have taken off their heavy glasses, but this does not mean that they have gotten rid of high myopia. Their fundus is likely to still be that of high myopia, so they still need to protect their fundus well.