AlTurki Hissah Saleh, Alsubhi Shahad Salah, Alhazmi Asma, Alhadlag Abdulrahman, Albalawi Nada Saleh, Alzoman Musab Abdulaziz, Aljasir Mohammed, Alsubaie Majed, Aljindan Mohanna, Alsomali Abdulaziz
Ophthalmology Department, Dhahran Eye Specialist Hospital, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Surgery Department, College of Medicine, Shaqra University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Clin Ophthalmol. 2025 Jan 22;19:249-259. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S503195. eCollection 2025.
The corneal epithelium is the outermost layer of the cornea. It plays a vital role in both normal and pathological conditions of the eye surface and serves as a protective layer. This study aimed to evaluate corneal epithelial thickness (ET) and create a normative database of corneal ET for pediatric and adult age groups using MS-39 AS-OCT.
This is a cross-sectional multi-center study conducted among the Saudi population.
A total of 268 eyes of 268 patients were analyzed (male 50.7% vs female 49.3%). 53.8% were pediatric age group. Higher mean values of central, paracentral, and peripheral were associated with the adult age group except for superior paracentral, temporal peripheral, and nasal peripheral. Male patients had higher mean values of central, paracentral, and peripheral in each quadrant, except for inferior peripheral. There was a significant correlation between inferior, superior, nasal, and temporal in both paracentral and peripheral. No significant correlations were observed between the spherical equivalent and epithelial thickness map.
The study found sex differences, with females generally having lower ET values than males, and older age having higher values than children.
角膜上皮是角膜的最外层。它在眼表的正常和病理状态中都起着至关重要的作用，并作为一层保护屏障。本研究旨在使用MS-39型前节光学相干断层扫描（AS-OCT）评估角膜上皮厚度（ET），并为儿童和成人年龄组建立角膜ET的正常数据库。
这是一项在沙特人群中开展的横断面多中心研究。
共分析了268例患者的268只眼（男性占50.7%，女性占49.3%）。53.8%为儿童年龄组。除上方旁中央、颞侧周边和鼻侧周边外，中央、旁中央和周边的平均数值在成人年龄组中较高。男性患者除下方周边外，每个象限的中央、旁中央和周边平均数值均较高。旁中央和周边的下方、上方、鼻侧和颞侧之间存在显著相关性。在球镜等效度与上皮厚度图之间未观察到显著相关性。
该研究发现了性别差异，女性的ET值通常低于男性，年龄较大者的值高于儿童。
