Macular retinal thickness in amblyopic and normal eyes of children evaluated with spectral domain OCT

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the macular retinal thickness, in relation to the axial length in amblyopic and normal eyes, using spectral domain OCT. Methods Included amblyopic and healthy children underwent a standard orthoptic examination and were scanned with spectral domain OCT (3D OCT-1000, Topcon). The mean, nasal, temporal and foveal retinal thicknesses (RT) were used for analysis. We recorded the axial length using the IOL master (Zeiss). Nonparametric testing for paired data and correlations were performed using SPSS 14.0.2. Results Fifteen amblyopic patients (7 male and 8 females, mean age 8.2 ± 2) and 13 healthy children (7 males and 6 females, mean age 8.3 ± 1.5) were enrolled in this study. Compared to their fellow eyes the amblyopic eyes were 0.3 (0.6 – 0.1) mm shorter (p .05). The longer eyes were significantly correlated (r = 0.4, p<.04) with a thinner RT in this control group. However, after correcting for the axial length, the amblyopic eyes still had a significantly thicker mean and temporal RT (differences 3.4 (0.7 – 6.1) and 3.1 (0.6 – 5.5) micron, p<0.02). Conclusion Based on this study in 28 children, amblyopic eyes are slightly but significantly shorter and have thicker mean and temporal RT compared to their fellow eyes. The thicker RT in amblyopic eyes seems not to be explained by their shorter axial length.