Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography for Evaluation of Retinal Vascular Changes in Patients with Psoriasis according to Disease Severity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objectives To investigate foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area and retinal vascular density (VD) in patients with psoriasis according to disease severity using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods Twenty-seven patients with mild psoriasis (Group 1), 28 with moderate to severe psoriasis (Group 2) and 30 healthy controls (Group 3) were evaluated with OCTA. Foveal and parafoveal VD and FAZ area were measured and compared. Results FAZ values were significantly higher in Group 2 (0.20 ± 0.1, 0.31 ± 0.07, 0.20 ± 0.09; P < .001, respectively.). The mean VD value were significantly lower in the deep capillary plexus in parafoveal area in Group 2 (35.5 ± 8.7, 28.7 ± 4.6, 35.0 ± 3.5; P < .001, respectively.). These changes showed significant correlation with Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores of patients. Conclusions Our results suggest that OCTA may have a future role as alert of potentially more severe disease in cases clinically classified as mild disease.