Pathological myopia is the presence of structural changes in high myopia, driven by axial elongation and posterior staphyloma1. High myopia is defined as a highly negative refractive error (> -6 to -8 dioptres), along with axial elongation (>26–26.5mm), while posterior staphyloma is defined in Spaide et al’s Pathologic Myopia (2021) as “an outpouching of the wall of the eye that has a radius of curvature that is less than the surrounding curvature of the wall of the eye”. This is the most common finding of pathological myopia, although occasionally posterior staphyloma can be present in eyes with normal axial lengths.
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