Morphological analysis of the eye elongation

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K11426
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Ophthalmology
• Research Institution: Kagoshima University
• Principal Investigator: Yamashita Takehiro 鹿児島大学, 医歯学域鹿児島大学病院, 助教 (70404514)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 眼球形状 / 眼球成長 / 近視 / 緑内障

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The shape of the eyeball varies among individuals like the face shape. The size of the eyeball becomes larger during growth phase like the body height. A larger eyeball growth becomes myopic eye. This study found that the children with more westernized dietary food have larger eyes. This supported that the increase in myopia in Japan was due to the increase in height and eyeballs due to improved nutritional status. Furthermore, it is known that there are several patterns in the shape of the eyeball, which may affect the development and diagnosis of eye diseases such as glaucoma and macular hole. And these individual variations of the eyeball was already found in elementary students.

Free Research Field

眼球形状の個人差

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

近視の原因のひとつが栄養状態の改善にあることが本研究の小児の結果から判明したため、各国の疫学調査で身長と眼球がどのタイミングで大きくなったのかを調査したところ、各国とも一致しており、身長が伸びていない国（インド・バングラディッシュ）では近視も増加していないことが判明した。また、眼球形状の個人差（眼球が卵形か球形か一部が大きくなる形かなど）は小学生の時点で分かれており、近視予防は小学生低学年以下で開始する必要がある。