Abstract

The ocular components which influence refractive error have been investigated in an ongoing fashion for the last 50 years. The classic notions of normal distribution of the ocular components (except axial length and refractive error), the skewed, leptokurtic distribution of refractive error with its disproportionate number of emmetropes, the correlation between refractive error and axial length, and the concept of refractive error as a result of mismatched association among the ocular components in a given eye have all resulted from studies measuring human eyes in vivo . However, we believe that there is a common misconception that the growth of the eye in childhood and the development of myopia are well understood.

© 1991 Optical Society of America