High mobility group box 1(HMGB1), which belongs to a high mobility group box that known for high mobility in electrophoresis, has been researching most intensively. Recently, researches have revealed that extracellular HMGB1, as a damage-associated molecular pattern(DAMP), is involved in the pathophysiology of tissue damage repairin a variety of common ocular diseases, namely, dry eye, keratopathy, glaucoma, uveitis, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration, thereby negatively affecting the healing of the disease. Silencing the function of extracellular HMGB1 is expected to be a new way for these ophthalmic diseases. This thesis reviews the research progress of extracellular HMGB1 in common ophthalmic diseases.