Blizorukost" yavlyaetsya samoy rasprostranennoy glaznoy patologiey u detey i podrostkov. Priobretennaya blizorukost" kharakterizuetsya progressiruyushchim techeniem i mozhet privodit" k znachitel"nomu snizheniyu zritel"nykh funktsiy. Po dannym ryada avtorov vysokaya oslozhnennaya blizorukost" zanimaet 1 - 2 rangovoe mesto v strukture invalidnosti po zreniyu v raznykh regionakh strany i sostavlyaet 18 - 26% v strukture glaznoy patologii. Progressiruyushchaya blizorukost" snizhaet professional"nuyu adaptatsiyu podrostkov i lits molodogo vozrasta, trebuet postoyannoy ochkovoy ili kontaktnoy korrektsii, snizhaet kachestvo zhizni molodykh lyudey. V svyazi s vysheizlozhennym, izuchenie voprosov patogeneza, razrabotka sposobov prognozirovaniya klinicheskogo techeniya blizorukosti na rannikh etapakh ee razvitiya, yavlyaetsya aktual"noy zadachey oftal"mologii.