2M.D. Asistant Professor, Mustafa Kemal University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, Hatay/TURKEY Purpose: To investigate whether smoking cause any changes in number of ganglion cells, ganglion cell layer thickness and optic nerve head in healthy adults.
Material and Methods: In the study volunteers aged from 20 to 50 who admitted to ophthalmology department of Mustafa Kemal University Faculty of Medicine between April 2013 and October 2013 were included; of which 73 were non smoker and 78 were smokers. Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measured by optical coherence tomography (Cirrus HD OCT); fast RNFL protocol was used. SPSS for Windows 13, 0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) was used for statistical analysis.
Results: Upper quadrant thickness was 122.41±14.43 μm in smokers and was 118.77±17.89 μm in non smokers. Nasal quadrant thickness was 75.07±12.53 μm in smokers and was 76.68±15.00 μm in non smokers, lower quadrant thickness was 125.40±19.97 μm in smokers and was 127.85±17.58 μm in non smokers; there was no statistically significant difference in these groups. Temporal quadrant thickness was 68.10±9.74 μm in smokers and was 72.40±10.80 μm in non smokers and the difference was statistically significant. Upper, nasal, inferior, temporal quadrants and average RNFL values showed no statistically significant difference between mild, moderate or severe smokers subgroups.
Conclusion: The study implies thinning of temporal quadrant RNFL thickness in smokers. This is likely to occur due to neurotoxic damage caused by smoking. It is advisable that heavy smokers should be cautioned for such a possible correlation and regularly followed-up.
Keywords : Nerve fiber, optical coherens tomography, retina