title: Evaluation of choroidal thickness in patients with scleroderma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the choroidal thickness in patients with scleroderma and to compare them with healthy control subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-six patients with scleroderma (3 male and 43 female) and 31 healthy controls (6 male and 25 female) were included in the study. Twenty-five patients had limited-type and 21 patients had diffuse-type scleroderma. Only left eyes of the patients and control subjects were used in the analysis. Demographic features of all the patients and control subjects were recorded. Each subject underwent ophthalmological examinations including refraction, visual acuity, intraocular pressure, axial length (AXL) measurement, slit-lamp biomicroscopy, and fundus examination. Body mass index (BMI) was estimated for all participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences between the patients with scleroderma and the control subjects in terms of age, gender, BMI, mean AXL, and mean spherical equivalent refractive error (SE) (P=0.1, P=0.086, P=0.37, P=0.55, and P=0.072 respectively). The patients with scleroderma had significantly thinner nasal, temporal, and subfoveal choroid than the healthy control subjects (P1=0.012, P2=0.046, and P3<0.001, respectively). There were no significant differences between the patients with limited-type and diffuse-type scleroderma in terms of age, gender, BMI, mean AXL, mean SE, nasal, temporal, and subfoveal choroidal thicknesses (all P>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Choroidal thickness in patients with scleroderma was significantly less than healthy control subjects. Vasculopathy in scleroderma is characterized by obliteration of arterioles and reduced capillary density may cause atrophy of choroid in patients with scleroderma.
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University Medicine School, Department of Ophthalmology, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Coşkun
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University Medicine School, Department of Rheumatology, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zengin
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University Medicine School, Department of Ophthalmology, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kenan
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University Medicine School, Department of Rheumatology, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kimyon
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University Medicine School, Department of Ophthalmology, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Erdogan Er
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University Medicine School, Department of Ophthalmology, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okumus
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University Medicine School, Department of Rheumatology, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mesut Onat
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University Medicine School, Department of Ophthalmology, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Erbagcı
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University Medicine School, Department of Rheumatology, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kısacık
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002829:Choroid / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012029:Refraction, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D045743:Scleroderma, Diffuse / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D045745:Scleroderma, Limited / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology