Myopia, posture and the visual environment

Evidence for a possible role for the peripheral retina in the control of refractive development is discussed, together with Howland's suggestion (Paper presented at the 13th International Myopia Conference, Tubingen, Germany, July 26-29, 2010) that signals to generate appropriate growth might be derived from ocular oblique astigmatism. The dependence of this, or similar peripheral mechanisms, on exposure to a uniform field of near-zero dioptric vergence is emphasized: this is required to ensure a consistent relationship between the astigmatic image fields and the retina. This condition is satisfied by typical outdoor environments. In contrast, indoor environments are likely to be unfavourable to peripherally-based emmetropization, since dioptric stimuli may vary widely across the visual field. This is particularly the case when short working distances or markedly asymmetric head postures with respect to the visual task are adopted.