ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate macular and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in amblyopic eyes compared to the fellow eye. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: 30 patients (60 eyes) older than 18 years of age with amblyopia. METHODS: Inclusion criteria included individuals older than 18 years, amblyopia, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) ≤ 20/40. A complete medical history was taken and an eye examination carried out. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was carried out on both eyes of all patients. Exclusion criteria included intraocular pressure (IOP) >23 mm Hg and eye pathology that may affect OCT measurements. The primary outcome measures were foveal thickness and average peripapillary RNFL thickness, which were compared using a paired t test. Quadrants in peripapillary scans and concentric rings in macular scans were analyzed. RESULTS: The average age was 56 years (range = 33-82 years). Visual acuity ranged from 20/40 to 20/4000 (mean = 20/275). The average peripapillary RNFL thickness was 90.6 µm (SD = 9.6 µm) in the amblyopic eye and 90.1 µm (SD = 12.1 µm) in the fellow eye (p = 0.64). The average macular thickness in amblyopic eyes was 260.1 µm (SD = 32.0 µm), and 254.7 µm (SD = 32.5 µm) in fellow eyes (p = 0.10). No statistical difference existed between peripapillary quadrants or macular concentric rings. These differences were smaller when the strabismic amblyopes were isolated. CONCLUSIONS: There does not seem to be a difference in peripapillary RNFL or macular thickness between the amblyopic eye and fellow eye.
