An anatomical study: The variation of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness with age and ocular axial length in subjects of West Bengal.

Ganglion cells form the second order neurons of the visual pathway. The Retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) consists of unmyelinated axons of Ganglion cells which converge at the Optic nerve head. Increasing age and increased axial length of the eyeball have been noted to cause a reduction in the RNFL thickness. The present work aims to correlate the effects of increasing age and axial length of the eyeball on the Retinal nerve fibre layer thickness in middle aged and elderly subjects of West Bengal. 380 Adults of both sexes and of various age groups , minimum age being above 40 years were chosen for the study. RNFL thickness was measured by Optical Coherence Tomography ( OCT ) . We have been able to show that RNFL thickness gradually decreases with increasing age and axial length of the eyeball. The results also show that this effect is aggravated for higher values of the independent variables , i.e, at higher decades of age and at moderate or severely increased axial length. We believe that this study will be able to enhance our knowledge regarding the anatomical and pathophysiological relation between an unique organ