Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 5, 2025
Author Spotlight: Advancing Understanding of Age-Related Lens Stiffness Changes
Published on: April 5, 2024
Effect of age and cycloplegia on the morphology of the human crystalline lens: swept-source OCT study
Zhangliang Li1, Wenyong Qu, Jinhai Huang
1From the Eye Hospital and School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China (Z. Li, Qu, Huang, Meng, X. Li, Zou, Zhao); National Clinical Research Center for Ocular Diseases, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China (Z. Li, Qu, Huang, Meng, X. Li, Zou, Zhao); Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University Hangzhou Branch, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China (Z. Li, Qu, Huang, Meng, X. Li, Zou, Zhao).
Purpose:
To evaluate the effect of age and cycloplegia on the morphology of the crystalline lens using a swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) system.
Setting:
Hospital.
Design:
Prospective cross-sectional study.
Methods:
The parameters including anterior chamber depth (ACD), the radii of curvature of the anterior and posterior surface of the crystalline lens (ALR and PLR), lens thickness (LT), lens equatorial diameter (LED), and lens vault (LV) were quantified by the SS-OCT before and after cycloplegia. The paired t test was used to compare the parameters before and after cycloplegia. A multivariate linear regression model was built to analyze the association between the parameters/cycloplegia-induced changes and age, while adjusting for the effect of axial length, refractive status, and sex.
Results:
76 individuals (age range, 18 to 86 years) were recruited. The ALR and ACD were negatively correlated with age (P ≤ .002), and the LT, LV, and LED were positively correlated with age (P ≤ .004). In participants younger than 60 years, the ALR and ACD significantly increased, whereas the LV and LT significantly decreased after cycloplegia (all P < .001). With aging, cycloplegia-induced differences of ALR (P = .001) and ACD (P = .014) significantly decreased, and of LT (P < .001), LT (P < .001), and LV (P = .001) significantly increased.
Conclusions:
The crystalline lens morphology measured by the SS-OCT revealed steepening anterior surface and increasing equatorial diameter with age. Cycloplegia caused a significant change of anterior surface morphology in participants younger than 60 years, and this effect diminished with age.
More Related Videos
07:56Sequential Application of Glass Coverslips to Assess the Compressive Stiffness of the Mouse Lens: Strain and Morphometric Analyses
Published on: May 3, 2016
06:08Author Spotlight: Advancing Lens Biomechanics Research Through a Novel Protocol for Imaging Complex Interdigitations and Protein Staining
Published on: June 9, 2023
