Thicknesses of the fovea and retinal nerve fiber layer in amblyopic and normal eyes in children

PURPOSE: This study was designed to assess and compare the thicknesses of the fovea and the retinal nerve fiber layer in normal children and children with amblyopia. METHODS: Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) was performed on 26 children (52 eyes total) with unilateral amblyopia that was due to anisometropia or strabismus. OCT was also performed on 42 normal children (84 eyes), for a total of 136 eyes. Retinal thickness measurements were taken from the fovea, and the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurements were taken from the superior, inferior, nasal and temporal quadrants in the peripapillary region. RESULTS: The average age of the normal children was 8.5 years, and the average age of the children with amblyopia was 8.0 years. The average thickness of the fovea was 157.4 microm in normal eyes and was 158.8 microm in amblyopic eyes. The difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.551). The thicknesses of the superior, inferior, nasal and temporal quadrants of the retinal nerve fiber layer between the normal children and the children with amblyopia were also not statistically significant (p = 0.751, 0.228, 0.696 and 0.228, respectively). However, for the children with anisometropic amblyopia and the children with strabismic amblyopia, the average thicknesses of the fovea were 146.5 microm and 173.1 microm, respectively, and the retinal nerve fiber layer thicknesses were measured to be 112.9 microm and 92.8 microm, respectively, and these were statistically significant differences (p = 0.046, 0.034, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Normal thicknesses of the fovea and the retinal nerve fiber layers were established, and there were no differences in the fovea and the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness found between normal children and children with amblyopia.