The effect of smoking on choroidal thickness measured by optical coherence tomography

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of smoking on choroidal thickness using the enhanced-depth imaging mode of Spectralis Heidelberg optical coherence tomography (OCT). Background Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for the development of systemic vascular disease and ocular vascular disease. The effect of smoking on the retina and deeper retinal tissues is now a topic of great interest besides being a risk factor for ocular vascular disease. Recently, optical coherence tomography has been shown to be effective in evaluating the choroidal thickness. Patients and methods The right eyes of 100 participants (50 healthy smokers and 50 healthy nonsmokers) were included in this study. We measured the choroidal thicknesses of the never-smoking individuals as a control group. The choroidal thicknesses of the smoking participants were measured at 1 and 8 h after smoking. Choroidal thickness measurements were taken at the fovea and at five more points, which are located at, respectively, 500 μm nasal to the fovea, 1000 μm nasal to the fovea, 500 μm temporal to the fovea, 1000 μm temporal to the fovea, and 1500 μm temporal to the fovea. Results A significant difference was found for the choroidal thickness, as the choroidal thickness was decreased after 1 h in comparison of smokers and nonsmokers, and there was an increase in choroidal thickness after 8 h in smokers compared with nonsmokers at all measurements points. Conclusion Smoking caused an acutely significant decrease in choroidal thickness that returned to increase after 8 h. The choroidal thickness significantly differs between the healthy young smokers and nonsmokers.