Abstract
Purpose :
Different models were developed in order to describe the growth of the juvenile eye during the development of myopia, with the possibility of affecting the retinal shape, retinal thickness and foveal pit morphology. The current study compared these parameters between emmetropes and myopes from distortion-corrected swept-source OCT scans.
Methods :
A 12x12 mm volume scan and a 16 mm horizontal HD line scan were performed on the right eyes of n =38 young adults (19 emmetropes and 19 myopes) using a swept-source OCT (PlexElite 9000, ZEISS Meditec, USA). The line scans were corrected for scan display distortions via an optical model including the ocular and OCT optics (OpticStudio, ZEMAX, LLC., USA). The retinal radius of curvature was calculated and foveal pit width, depth and slope were analyzed via a Sum of Gaussian function from the set of corrected scans. The total central retinal thickness was evaluated using the distance between the inner limiting membrane and the retinal pigment epithelium obtained by segmentation of the volume scans. Differences in retinal curvature, foveal pit shape and retinal thickness were compared between emmetropes and myopes.
Results :
There was no statistical difference in horizontal retinal curvature between emmetropes and myopes with radii of 13.19 ± 1.76 mm and 13.55 ± 1.83 mm, respectively. Foveal pit width (1.23 ± 0.25 mm vs. 1.17 ± 0.14 mm), depth (0.11 ± 0.03 mm vs. 0.11 ± 0.02 mm) and slope (13.43 ± 3.28° vs. 13.96 ± 2.51°) neither revealed any significant differences between refractive groups. The same applied to central retinal thickness, which neither differed between emmetropes and myopes with 272.11 ± 31.29 µm and 283.26 ± 26.57 µm.
Conclusions :
Analysis of the wide-field swept-source OCT scans showed no clinically relevant differences between myopes and emmetropes for the evaluated parameters. Therefore, these parameters might not serve as potential in-vivo biomarkers for myopia. Future longitudinal studies could analyze these parameters in children to evaluate a potential re-organization of the retinal tissue during myopia progression between childhood and adolescence.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.