Relationship of corneal hysteresis and optic nerve parameters in healthy myopic subjects

The association between corneal biomechanical properties and glaucoma is an area of much interest. We determined the relationship between corneal hysteresis (CH) and optic nerve parameters in healthy myopic subjects in the current study. CH was measured with Reichert Ocular Response Analyzer in 108 eyes from 108 healthy myopic subjects. All subjects received retinal nerve fiber layer and optic disc imaging Cirrus HD-OCT, GDx ECC, and Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II. None of the tested optic nerve parameters showed statistical significance with CH by using correlation analysis. For RNFL parameters, there was a negative but not statistically significant correlation between CH and average RNFL thickness obtained with OCT (r = -0.15, p = 0.13). For optic disc parameters, there was a negative but not statistically significant correlation between CH and rim area measured with OCT (r = -0.10, p = 0.29). The current study did not find any statistically significant relationship between CH and optic nerve parameters as measured by all three imaging modalities in healthy myopic eyes. Therefore, the relationship observed previously in glaucoma subjects is likely coming to fruition as optic nerve damage is caused by the disease.