To evaluate the early changes of visual function in high myopic eyes, visual field examinations were performed using an Octopus 201 automated perimeter to 206 eyes of 120 patients. Corrected visual acuities were better than 0.8 and there were no abnormal findings except tigroid fundus change. 64 eyes of 38 patients were selected as a control group, whose refractive degrees were between +1.0D and -1.0D, corrected visual acuities were better than 1.0. The correlations of visual field changes with age, refractive degrees, axial length and sex were investigated. The total loss of high myopia group and the control group was compared, and changes in certain members of the high myopia group were followed up. The results were as follows: 1) Compared to the control group, the high myopia group had remarkably great loss. It revealed that the functional changes occurred already in the tigroid fundus stage. 2) Refractive degrees and axial length showed a significant positive correlation with total loss. This indicated that the refractive degrees and axial length played important roles in determining the visual field change of high myopic eyes. 3) Age and sex showed no statistically significant correlations with total loss. 4) The mean loss of the upper temporal quadrant and 11 degrees-20 degrees annular area were the largest. It appeared that the earliest changes in high myopia possibly began from the lower temporal region of the disc. 5) In the follow-up study, the loss increased persistently in the whole field, especially in the upper temporal and 11 degrees-20 degrees area.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)