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Simulate myopic macular degeneration (MMD) — the leading cause of irreversible visual impairment from pathologic (degenerative) myopia, affecting eyes with extreme axial elongation (axial length >26 mm, typically with spherical equivalent refraction of −6 D or worse). Unlike simple myopia (primarily an optical defect), pathologic myopia involves progressive structural changes to the sclera, choroid, Bruch's membrane, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), and photoreceptors driven by the mechanical and metabolic consequences of excessive axial elongation. The posterior sclera thins and bulges outward, forming a posterior staphyloma — a deep, outward ectasia of the posterior pole visible on OCT and B-scan ultrasound — which exerts progressive stretching forces on all overlying ocular layers. The resulting pathological cascade includes: (1) diffuse chorioretinal atrophy (thinning of the choriocapillaris and RPE across the posterior pole, producing the characteristic tessellated or tigroid fundus where choroidal vessels are visible through a thinned RPE); (2) lacquer cracks — linear breaks in Bruch's membrane visible as yellowish-white irregular lines at the posterior pole, representing rupture sites that may be the entry route for choroidal neovascularisation (CNV); (3) myopic CNV — new blood vessels growing from the choriocapillaris through Bruch's membrane breaks beneath the RPE and photoreceptors (type 2 / classic CNV), causing acute macular haemorrhage, exudation, and rapid central vision loss — the most common cause of acute vision loss in pathologic myopia; and (4) advanced macular atrophy — including Fuchs spot (a pigmented macular scar from regressed myopic CNV), geographic atrophy of the RPE and choriocapillaris at the macula, and retinoschisis or macular hole from staphyloma-induced posterior retinal traction. Model three disease stages: tessellated fundus with diffuse choroidal atrophy (early MMD), patchy macular atrophy with lacquer cracks and myopic CNV (intermediate MMD), and advanced macular atrophy with complete chorioretinal scarring (late MMD). Inspect ΔE colour shift, CIE xy chromaticity, and image-level simulation of progressive central visual loss.

Myopic macular degeneration colour science simulation by Auric Artisan.

Base color
MMD stage & settings
Severity / atrophy progression 50%
Image simulation
Upload JPG/PNG (max 1200 × 1200). See how a scene appears through diffuse choroidal atrophy with reduced contrast, patchy macular atrophy with lacquer crack distortion and myopic CNV haemorrhage simulation, or advanced Fuchs spot macular scarring with severe central visual loss.
Research notes
Myopic macular degeneration is a major cause of visual impairment globally — pathologic myopia affects approximately 2–3% of the world population, with the highest prevalences in East Asian countries (China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore) where prevalence rates of 6–10% are reported. The META-PM study (Ohno-Matsui et al., 2015) established the first international consensus classification of myopic maculopathy into 5 categories (0 = no myopic retinal lesion; 1 = tessellated fundus; 2 = diffuse chorioretinal atrophy; 3 = patchy atrophy; 4 = macular atrophy) plus 3 plus signs (lacquer cracks, myopic CNV, Fuchs spot). The RAPOLARIS and RETAIN studies established anti-VEGF therapy (ranibizumab, bevacizumab, aflibercept) as the standard of care for myopic CNV, replacing the photodynamic therapy era (verteporfin-PDT) of the early 2000s.
Swatches
Normal
HEX: — • RGB: — • xy: —
MMD affected
HEX: — • RGB: — • xy: —
ΔE (CIE76)
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ΔE (CIEDE2000)
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Deep preview
Normal
MMD (deep)
Chromaticity (CIE xy)
Choroidal atrophy & RPE loss chromaticity shift
D65 white point: 0.313, 0.329
Image simulation

Myopic macular degeneration simulations model the progressive photoreceptor and RPE signal loss of pathologic myopia using a stage-dependent choroidal atrophy and macular degeneration channel model in the sRGB colour space. Diffuse atrophy models the reduced choroidal perfusion and RPE thinning as a mild contrast and luminance reduction with a warm-to-cool chromaticity drift (from loss of the warm choroidal background reflectance contributing to the tessellated fundus appearance). Patchy atrophy with myopic CNV introduces additional central L/M cone loss from active exudation and haemorrhage at the macula, modelled as mixed achromatic attenuation and a central scotoma-like signal reduction. Advanced macular atrophy (Fuchs spot / geographic atrophy) models near-complete central photoreceptor and RPE loss as maximal foveal-dominant attenuation. ΔE2000 per Sharma et al. (2005). Not for clinical diagnosis — MMD requires OCT, FFA, OCTA, and ophthalmic examination. New central visual distortion, sudden vision loss, or metamorphopsia in a highly myopic eye requires urgent ophthalmic evaluation.

Multi-condition comparison
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Compare diffuse choroidal atrophy, patchy atrophy with active myopic CNV, and advanced macular scarring stages. Image simulation applies progressive choroidal perfusion loss and central macular atrophy to uploaded scenes.