BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship or differences in ocular structures of amblyopic eyes compared to fellow eyes in children and young adults with hyperopic anisometropic amblyopia.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Hyperopic participants with anisometropic amblyopia, defined as the presence of best-corrected visual acuity differences of at least 2 Snellen lines and 1.5 diopters between amblyopic and fellow eyes, were studied. Using the IOL Master, Pentacam Scheimpflug imaging and Spectralis optical coherence tomography, the axial length, corneal curvature, and anterior chamber depth (ACD), as well as the thickness of the cornea, peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), and macula, were compared between children and young adults and between their amblyopic and fellow eyes.

RESULTS: In 53 participants with hyperopic anisometropic amblyopia, there were significant differences in the anterior corneal curvature, ACD and axial length between the amblyopic and fellow eyes of all the patients. The mean central macular thickness in the amblyopic eyes was significantly thicker (P=.001) in the group aged 5 to 12 years; however, this was not the case in the group aged 13 to 42 years. There was no significant difference in average RNFL thickness in either group.

CONCLUSIONS: We found significantly greater mean central macular thickness in anisometropic amblyopic eyes among participants aged 5 to 12 years, but not among those who were older. Similarly, the interocular differences in axial length parameters seemed to be related to the central macular thickness differences between the amblyopic and fellow eyes in the younger group.

Keywords: Adolescent, Amblyopia - physiopathology, Anisometropia - physiopathology, Child, Child, Preschool, Cornea - pathology, Eye - physiopathology, Hyperopia - physiopathology, Macula Lutea - pathology, Nerve Fibers - pathology, Retina - pathology, Tomography, Optical Coherence, Visual Acuity, young adult