Thickness of the peripapillary retina in healthy subjects with different degrees of ametropia.

Purpose: To evaluate the thickness of the peripapillary retina in healthy subjects with different degrees of ametropia.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Participants: Forty-three healthy normal subjects, ages 15 to 64 years (38+/-15 years) were recruited.

Methods: The method of retinal thickness mapping was applied to generate serial optical section images in the temporal peripapillary retinal area. The digitized images were analyzed to detect the separation between the vitreoretinal and chorioretinal interfaces. The separation was converted to absolute thickness by taking into account the magnification of the optical system and the optical dimensions of the eyes.

Main Outcome Measures: The refractive error of the eyes ranged from +8.25 to -12.75 diopters (spherical equivalent). The axial length of the eyes ranged from 19.3 to 27.35 mm. The retinal thickness in a 2- x 2-mm temporal peripapillary retinal area was determined.

Results: The separation between the retinal interfaces decreased with increasing axial length (P<0.001). The thickness in the temporal peripapillary retinal area was not significantly correlated with the axial length of the eye (P = 0.3). A lack of statistically significant difference between the average thickness in the hyperopic, emmetropic, and myopic eyes (P> or =0.06) was found.

Conclusions: The average thickness in the temporal peripapillary retinal area was not influenced by the axial length of the eye, when the magnification of the optical system and the optical dimension of the eyes were taken into consideration.