Use of optical coherence tomography to assess variations in macular retinal thickness in myopia.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the variation in macular retinal thickness in otherwise normal young Asian myopic subjects by using optical coherence tomography (OCT).


METHODS
One hundred thirty ophthalmically normal men 19 to 24 years of age with myopia (spherical equivalent, -0.25 to -14.25 D) underwent examination of one randomly selected eye. Visual acuity, refraction, slit lamp examination, applanation tonometry, gonioscopy, A-scan ultrasound, fundus examination, visual field testing, and optic disc photography were performed. Exclusion criteria were visual acuity worse than 20/30, previous intraocular surgery, intraocular pressure >21 mm Hg, or other ocular diseases. Three horizontal transfixation and three vertical transfixation OCT scans (ver.4.1; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA) of 6 mm each were conducted on each eye by a single operator. Neurosensory retinal thicknesses at 100 points along each scan were measured, and the overall average, maximum, and minimum retinal thicknesses were analyzed by simple linear regression and analysis of variance.


RESULTS
The average macular retinal thickness (overall) was 230.9 +/- 10.5 microm and was not significantly related to the degree of myopia. The mean maximum retinal thickness (at the parafovea) was 278.4 +/- 13.0 microm, and correlated negatively with axial length (P = 0.03). The mean minimum retinal thickness (at the foveola) was 141.1 +/- 19.1 microm, and this was positively correlated with axial length (P = 0.015) and spherical equivalent (P = 0.0002). The retina was thicker at the superior and nasal parafovea compared to the inferior or temporal parafovea.


CONCLUSIONS
Average retinal thickness of the macula does not vary with myopia. However, the parafovea was thinner and the fovea thicker with myopia.
Lim
Marcus C C
MC
Singapore National Eye Centre and Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore 168751.
Hoh
Sek-Tien
ST
Foster
Paul J
PJ
Lim
Tock-Han
TH
Chew
Sek-Jin
SJ
Seah
Steve K L
SK
Aung
Tin
T
D000328:Adult; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D006068:Gonioscopy; D006801:Humans; D008266:Macula Lutea / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009216:Myopia / Q000150:complications*; D012029:Refraction, Ocular; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D014065:Tonometry, Ocular; D014792:Visual Acuity; D014794:Visual Fields