Abstract

Objective: To examine the impact of age and gender on macular thickness measures in healthy Iraqi eyes by utilizing optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Methodology: Macular scanning was performed on 200 healthy adult volunteers (age 20 and over) utilizing Zeiss Cirrus-high-definition HD-OCT. Each subject's macular thickness was measured in all nine locations of Early-Treatment-Diabetic-Retinopathy Study (EDTRS) map.
Results: Average age of volunteers was 37±10.4 years (range 21-67). The central fovea had a thickness of 254.6±17.3μm. The average macular thickness was 279.0±10.7μm, and macular volume was 10.0±0.4 mm³. In all nine ETDRS locations apart of outer inferior quadrant, females had a considerably narrower macula (p=0.001) than males. The correlation between thickness of central fovea and age was found to be very poor and not statistically significant. The mean macular thickness and volume in all other macular areas other than central foveal thickness exhibited statistically significant nonlinear decline with age (p

Key words: Maculopathy, macular thickness, optical coherence tomography.