Effect of blunt ocular trauma on retinal microvasculature: An optical coherence tomography angiography study

BackgroundTo evaluate the retinal vascular changes and foveal avascular zone area in patients with unilateral blunt ocular trauma using optical coherence tomography angiography.MethodsThis retrospective study consisted of 50 traumatized and 50 contralateral sound eyes of the patients with blunt ocular trauma. The foveal avascular zone area, choriocapillaris flow area, foveal, parafoveal, and perifoveal vessel densities in both superficial capillary plexus and deep capillary plexus and central macular thickness were evaluated.ResultsThere were no significant differences between traumatized and sound eyes in the foveal avascular zone area (p:0.36), choriocapillaris flow area (p:0.43), central macular thickness (p:0.67), and in vessel densities of superficial capillary plexus over all regions (p > 0.05 for all). However, the vessel densities of deep capillary plexus were significantly lower in traumatized eyes (p < 0.05 for all).ConclusionOptical coherence tomography angiography demonstrated a significant decrease in retinal deep capillary plexus vessel density of the eyes effected by blunt ocular trauma, even with no evident findings on fundus examination or structural spectral domain-optical coherence tomography changes.