In 1980, while helping the late George O. Waring III prepare the grant application for the soon to be initiated Prospective Evaluation of Radial Keratotomy study, I reviewed the world literature on the incidence and prevalence of myopia.
At that time, in the United States, approximately 25% of the population was myopic, 25% hyperopic and 50% emmetropic within ±0.5 D of plano, while 30% had 1 D or more of astigmatism. I was amazed to learn that in some Asian countries as much as 50% of the population manifested myopia. Today, 4 decades later, the prevalence of myopia in the U.S. has