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Updated: Jun 24, 2026

In vivo Structural Assessments of Ocular Disease in Rodent Models using Optical Coherence Tomography
Published on: July 24, 2020
Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in amblyopic eyes
Michael X Repka1, Raymond T Kraker, Susanna M Tamkins
1Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. pedig@jaeb.org
Purpose:
To compare the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness of amblyopic and fellow eyes. We hypothesized that the RNFL of the amblyopic eye may be thinner.
Design:
Prospective, cross-sectional, observational case series.
Methods:
Optical coherence tomography of the peripapillary RNFL thickness of amblyopic and fellow eyes was performed in 37 patients 7 to 12 years of age (mean age +/- standard deviation, 9.2 +/- 1.5 years) with unilateral strabismic, anisometropic, or combined-mechanism amblyopia enrolled in a randomized treatment trial.
Results:
Mean global RNFL thickness of the amblyopic and fellow eyes was 111.4 and 109.6 microm, respectively (mean difference, 1.8 microm thicker in the amblyopic eyes; 95% confidence interval, -0.6 to 4.3 microm). The amblyopic eye was 8 microm or more thicker than the fellow eye in 9 patients (24%); the fellow eye was 8 microm or more thicker than the amblyopic eye in 2 patients (5%); and the difference was within test-retest variability (7 microm) in 26 patients (70%).
Conclusions:
Our findings do not indicate that peripapillary RNFL thickness is thinner in eyes with moderate amblyopia compared with their fellow eyes.

