The effect of age and conjunctivochalasis on conjunctival thickness.

Purpose: To determine the effect of age and conjunctivochalasis (CCh) on conjunctival thickness.

Methods: One hundred and nineteen normal subjects aged 60-79 years and 83 subjects with CCh graded I-II (39 males and 44 females) aged 60-79 years were recruited. Cirrus HD-optical coherence tomography 4000 was used to measure the thickness of the lower temporal conjunctiva 3-5 mm from the corneal limbus.

Results: The conjunctiva was significantly thicker in normal subjects compared to CCh patients (p < 0.0001), and in normal subjects aged 60-69 years compared to normal subjects aged 70-79 years (p = 0.0466). There was no significant difference between age groups for patients with CCh (p = 0.1001). After subdividing groups by age, normal subjects had a thicker conjunctiva compared to CCh patients for those aged 60-69 years (p = 0.0152) as well as those aged 70-79 years (p = 0.0120).

Conclusions: The conjunctiva is thinner in older subjects and subjects with CCh.