Review A genetic perspective on myopia

Myopia is a refractive error of the eye that has a significant socioeconomic impact due to its increasing prevalence and the fact that it causes visual impairment. Its aetiology is complex and is likely to involve the interaction of environmental and genetic influences. Tight environmental influence is exemplified by defo- cus-induced myopia produced in animal models, while genetic factors predominate in familial occurrence of myopia with a Mendelian inheritance pattern. The involvement of numerous mediators, such as cytokines,