To investigate identifiable peripheral retinal lesions in patients with myopia or high myopia and to evaluate the usefulness of ultra-widefield scanning laser ophthalmoscope in retina clinic settings.

We evaluated fundus images of 149 patients acquired using an ultra-widefield scanning laser ophthalmoscope. Manual fundus examination by a retinal specialist was performed and sensitivity and specificity were calculated by comparing the findings of the two different fundus examination methods.

Variable peripheral retinal lesions were observed: lattice degeneration (24.1% in myopia, 36.6% in high myopia), white without pressure (17.7% in myopia, 20.7% in high myopia), retinal break (5.1% in myopia, 7.5% in high myopia) and retinal detachment (1.3% in myopia, 4.2% in high myopia). The incidence of lattice degeneration was significantly higher in myopic eyes than in highly myopic eyes ( p = 0.043). The examination sensitivities were as follows: lattice degeneration (84.2% in myopia, 91.0% in high myopia), white without pressure (100.0% in both myopia and high myopia), retinal break (75.0% in myopia, 43.8% in high myopia) and retinal detachment (100.0% in myopia, 66.7% in high myopia). The examination specificities were 100.0% in all cases.

Diagnostic sensitivities of ultra-widefield scanning laser ophthalmoscope were 90.8% in patients with myopia, 91.0% in patients with high myopia and 90.9% in totally myopic patients, which were relatively high values. Therefore, the ultra- widefield scanning laser ophthalmoscope is useful as auxiliary equipment for myopic patients in retina clinic settings.