Abstract
BACKGROUND: To compare choroidal thickness (CT) in eyes diagnosed with Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome (PXS) without evidence of glaucoma to age- and sexmatched healthy subjects using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). METHODS: This study compared 30 eyes with PXS (Group A), with 30 control eyes (Group B). Key inclusion criteria: age ≥ 18 years; best-corrected visual acuity ≥ 20/40; intraocular pressure ≤ 21 mmHg. Exclusion criteria: spherical equivalent > ± 6 diopters, axial length > 25 mm, evidence of glaucoma/chronic diseases/medications likely to affect CT. CT was measured using enhanced depth imaging mode of SD-OCT. Differences in CT were analyzed using unpaired t-tests. RESULTS: While the average macular CT was lower in eyes with PXS compared to controls, the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.06). However, significant thinning of the choroid was observed in specific subfields in PXS eyes, including the central subfield (p = 0.04), inferior inner subfield (p = 0.03), nasal outer subfield (p = 0.04), and the inferior outer subfield (p = 0.03). Although not statistically significant (p > 0.05), other subfields of the macula also showed a trend of thinner choroid in Group A compared to controls, except for the temporal outer macular subfield. CONCLUSION: Eyes with PXS exhibit thinner choroid, particularly in the central, inferior inner, and nasal outer and inferior outer subfields of the macula, compared to controls. These findings suggest localized choroidal alterations in PXS eyes, which may have clinical implications warranting further investigation.