Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography and Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Findings in Patients with Solar Retinopathy

OBJECTIVES: Solar retinopathy is a retinal disease caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, primarily affecting the outer retinal layers, including photoreceptors and the retinal pigment epithelium. This cross-sectional study aimed to present the optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA) findings in patients with solar retinopathy.
METHODS: Fourteen eyes from 11 patients with a history of solar exposure during a partial solar eclipse were included. OCT and OCTA were performed and parameters including central macular and choroidal thickness, outer retinal defect thickness, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)-Bruch membrane thickness, outer retinal defect area on en face OCT, OCTA foveal avascular zone area, and vessel density in the central fovea were measured. Their correlation with the visual acuity (VA) was investigated.
RESULTS: Hyporeflective outer retinal defects including the ellipsoid and interdigitation zones were observed in all eyes in B scan and en face structural OCT. OCTA indicated a normal vascular pattern with no choriocapillaris flow deficits corre- sponding to the outer retinal defects. A significant positive correlation was found between VA and RPE-Bruch membrane thickness under the outer retinal defect. There was no significant relationship between VA and other OCT and OCTA parameters.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The outer retina is affected in solar retinopathy. En face structural OCT enables the measurement of the area of outer retinal defect. The significant relationship between VA and RPE-Bruch membrane thickness suggests that this may be an indicator of severity.