Purpose: To evaluate the physiological changes related with age of all retinal layers thickness measurements in macular and peripapillary areas in healthy eyes.
Methods: Wide protocol scan (with a field of view of 12x9 cm) from Triton SS-OCT instrument (Topcon Corporation, Japan) was performed 463 heathy eyes from 463 healthy controls. This protocol allows to measure the thickness of the following layers: Retina, Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), Ganglion cell layer (GCL +), GCL++ and choroid. In those layers, mean thickness was compared in four groups of ages: Group 1 (71 healthy subjects aged between 20 and 34 years); Group 2 (65 individuals aged 35-49 years), Group 3 (230 healthy controls aged 50-64 years) and Group 4 (97 healthy subjects aged 65-79 years).
Results: The most significant thinning of all retinal layers occurs particularly in the transition from group 2 to group 3, especially in temporal superior quadrant at RNFL, GCL++ and retinal layers (p≤0.001), and temporal superior, temporal inferior, and temporal half in choroid layer (p<0.001). Curiously group 2 when compared with group 1 presents a significant thickening of RNFL in temporal superior quadrant (p = 0.001), inferior (p<0.001) and temporal (p = 0.001) halves, and also in nasal half in choroid layer (p = 0.001).
Conclusions: Excepting the RNFL, which shows a thickening until the third decade of life, the rest of the layers seem to have a physiological progressive thinning.