[The role of the sclera in the pathogenesis of progressive myopia (author's transl)].

Different parts of the sclera have different biochemical and biomechanical properties. It was shown that the sclera is much more extensible in the meridional than in the equatorial direction; this extensibility of the sclera was especially marked in myopic eyes. Bulbar stretching is probably due to an accumulation of residual microdeformations in the sclera as a result of its periodical overload. In scleras of myopic eyes structural anomalies were found which might be explained by an incomplete fibrillogenesis. The deterioration of the biomechanical properties of the sclera in myopia seems to be linked to a metabolic disturbance of the acid mucopolysaccharides.