Measurement of the Lower Lid Margin Thickness by Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography.

PURPOSE

To verify the feasibility of using anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) to measure the lower lid margin thickness (LLMT) from posterior lash line to the mucocutaneous junction.

METHODS

This was a prospective, single-center, observational study. Fifty-six volunteers between 20 and 79 years old with normal healthy eyes were included in this study. Using AS-OCT to measure the LLMT at the middle position was separately performed by two operators under the same conditions.

RESULTS

The mean age of 56 subjects (24 males and 32 females) was 45.4 ± 15.7 years. The LLMT measured by AS-OCT between two operators was 0.86 ± 0.23 mm and 0.85 ± 0.22 mm, respectively. The reliability and repeatability between two operators were evaluated by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC = 0.97). Based on one operator's measurements, the LLMT was 0.70 ± 0.10 mm at ages 20-29, 0.68 ± 0.09 mm at ages 30-39, 0.94 ± 0.12 mm at ages 40-49, 0.93 ± 0.20 mm at ages 50-59, 1.03 ± 0.15 mm at ages 60-69, and 1.24 ± 0.19 mm at ages 70-79, which indicated a significant positive correlation with age (rs = 0.74, p < 0.001). In addition, there was a significant difference in the LLMT between genders (0.94 ± 0.26 vs. 0.80 ± 0.19 mm, p = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

A good agreement between two operators indicated that it seemed to be feasible to use AS-OCT to measure the LLMT. Additionally, we found that the LLMT appeared to be closely related to age and gender.