Effect of systemic sclerosis on macular anatomy

Abstract

Aims/Purpose: Systemic sclerosis, also known as scleroderma, is a rare autoimmune disease that involves the hardening of the skin and also hinders the blood supply by occluding the small arteries and capillaries that carry blood to the tissues. Our aim was to compare the retinal thickness of different segmentations at the macula.Methods: In this pilot study 22 eyes from subjects with systemic sclerosis were compared with 22 eyes from healthy subjects (controls). All participants underwent a complete ophthalmological study and optical coherence tomography (OCT) measurements (Spectralis, Heidelberg Engineering, Germany) including complete retina, inner and outer layers, intermediate retinal layers (inner nuclear layer + outer plexiform layer + outer nuclear layer) and ganglion cell complex thickness (macular retinal nerve fibre layer + ganglion cell layer + inner plexiform layer) at the macula using Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) grid so foveal, parafoveal and perifoveal subfields were measured. The values of the thickness of each segmentation in relation to the thickness of the complete retina (considered layer segmentation thickness divided by complete retina thickness) were also compared.Results: Best‐corrected visual acuity was lower in systemic sclerosis group but age, gender, spherical equivalent, intraocular pressure and axial length did not show any differences between both groups. Diffuse thinning in parafovea of complete retina, inner retina, outer retina, intermediate retina and ganglion cell complex was found in systemic sclerosis group. Fovea is also thinner in complete retina and intermediate retina in systemic sclerosis group. When considering the comparisons of the results in relation to complete retina thickness no differences were found between groups.Conclusions: Systemic sclerosis induces the thinning specially in the parafovea of all the considered macular segmentations alike.