Changes of outer retinal thickness with increasing age in normal eyes and in normal fellow eyes of patients with unilateral age-related macular degeneration

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that the thickness of outer retinal layers will change with increasing age in normal eyes and in the normal fellow eyes of patients with unilateral agerelated macular degeneration. Methods: Spectral domain optical coherence tomography images of 127 normal eyes of 127 subjects and 58 normal fellow eyes of 58 patients with unilateral age-related macular degeneration were studied. The thickness between the retinal pigment epithelium line and the cone outer segment tips line, between the cone outer segment tips line and the photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment line, and between the inner segment/outer segment line and the external limiting membrane line were measured at the fovea in both groups. Results: The thickness between retinal pigment epithelium line and the cone outer segment tips line, and between inner segment/outer segment line and the external limiting membrane line were significantly and negatively associated with age in the normal group. Cone outer segment tips line and the photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment thickness was not significantly associated with age. Retinal pigment epithelium line and the cone outer segment tips line was thinner in the fellow eyes of patients with unilateral age-related macular degeneration than in the age-matched normal eyes. Cone outer segment tips line and the photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment and inner segment/ outer segment line and the external limiting membrane line thicknesses in the fellow eyes were not significantly different from that of normal eyes. Conclusion: The tissue between the retinal pigment epithelium line and the cone outer segment tips line may become atrophic in older eyes and in the normal fellow eyes of patients with unilateral age-related macular degeneration.