Interocular Differences in Retinal Curvature in Anisometropic Patients and Their Association With Myopic Degree Differences.

PURPOSE

To investigate regional differences in Gaussian retinal curvature (RC) between fellow eyes of anisometropic patients and their associations with interocular disparities in myopic parameters.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, ultra-widefield swept-source optical coherence tomography (24 mm × 20 mm field) was performed in 121 anisometropic patients. Three-dimensional retinal morphology reconstruction based on Bruch's membrane was used to derive Gaussian RC. The retina was segmented into macular, peripheral, and six concentric annular regions (I-VI). Paired t-tests or Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were applied to evaluate interocular RC differences, with Spearman correlation analysis examining associations between RC variations and myopic parameter disparities.

RESULTS

Mean interocular differences were 1.95 ± 0.95 D for spherical equivalent (SE) and 0.79 ± 0.46 mm for axial length (AL). The more myopic eye exhibited significantly steeper macular RC (P < 0.001) and flatter peripheral RC (P < 0.001) compared to the fellow eye. Macular/peripheral RC disparities demonstrated significant correlations with SE/AL differences (both P < 0.05). Region-specific analysis revealed positive correlations between AL and RC I-III differentials, whereas inverse correlations were observed for RC V-VI (all P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Anisometropic patients demonstrate biomechanical divergence characterized by macular steepening and peripheral flattening in the more myopic eye during axial elongation, suggesting region-dependent retinal adaptation mechanisms.