Myopia induces meridional growth asymmetry of the retina: a pilot study using wide-field swept-source OCT

Abstract

Myopic axial eye growth has mechanical implications on ocular structures, such as the retinal and foveal shape integrity or choroidal thickness. The current study investigated myopia-related changes of retinal radius of curvature, foveal width, depth, slope and choroidal thickness. Wide-field swept-source OCT line and volume scans were performed on 40 young adult participants in horizontal and vertical directions. OCT scans were corrected for their scan display distortions before automated extraction of retinal and foveal shape parameters. All findings were correlated to refractive error and axial length. The horizontal retinal radius of curvature and the directional ratio between horizontal and vertical retinal shape correlated significantly with axial length (ρ= + 0.53 , p< 0.001 and ρ= + 0.35 , p< 0.05). Vertical retinal shape and foveal pit parameters neither showed any significant correlations with axial length nor refractive error (all p> 0.05). Choroidal thickness correlated significantly with refractive error in all analyzed regions (ρ+0.39to+0.52), but less with axial length (ρ- 0.18 to − 0.37). Horizontal retinal shape and choroidal thickness, but not foveal pit morphology, were altered by myopic eye growth. Asymmetries in horizontal versus vertical retinal shape with increasing myopia were detected. These parameters could act as promising biomarkers for myopia and its associated complications.