title: Corneal Epithelial Thickness Measured by Manual Electronic Caliper Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography: Distributions and Demographic Correlations in Preoperative Refractive Surgery Patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to report the distributions and demographic correlations of corneal epithelial thickness measured by manual electronic caliper spectral domain optical coherence tomography in preoperative refractive surgery patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective review.
  
  
  METHODS
  The charts of 218 consecutive patients (413 eyes) who presented for refractive surgery evaluation from April 2013 through September 2013 were retrospectively reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean corneal epithelial thickness was 51.0 μm with a range of 43 to 61 μm. Corneal epithelial thickness was significantly correlated with sex (P < 0.0001), corneal keratometry (P = 0.01), and underlying corneal thickness excluding the epithelium (P = 0.0268). No significant associations were identified in which corneal epithelial thickness correlated with either age (P = 0.0760) or existing refractive status of the eye (P = 0.5135).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Corneal epithelial thickness measured by manual electronic caliper optical coherence tomography in preoperative refractive surgery patients is comparable with the findings for the general population using other measurement techniques, the awareness of which may be useful in the preoperative assessment of these patients.
authors.affiliation: From the *Panhandle Eye Group; †Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center; ‡West Texas A&M University; and §Southwest Retina Specialists, Amarillo, TX.
authors.forename: Sloan W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Rush
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Matulich
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Biskup
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cofoid
authors.forename: Ryan B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Rush
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019573:Epithelium, Corneal / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D054140:Refractive Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*