Epithelial Thickness Mapping And Higher-Order Aberrations In Fuchs Dystrophy
Published 2026 - 44th Congress of the ESCRS
Reference: PP26.11 | Type: Free paper | DOI: 10.82333/fhgk-yc87
Authors: Prof. Dr Luis Izquierdo Jr* 1 , Dr Natalia Cholaky 2 , Rolando Rojas 2 , Jose Chauca 3 , A/Prof. Maria A. Henriquez 2
1Research department,Oftalmosalud Institute of Eyes,Lima,Peru;San Fernando School of Medicine,Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos,Lima,Peru, 2Research department,Oftalmosalud Institute of Eyes,Lima,Peru, 3Department of Statistics, Demography, Humanities and Social Sciences, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia,Lima,Peru
Purpose
To evaluate the relationship between epithelial minimum thickness and corneal higher-order aberrations (HOAs) in Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD), and to determine whether epithelial remodeling is more strongly associated with optical degradation than global corneal thickness.
Setting
Research Department, Oftalmosalud Institute, Lima, Peru.
Methods
Twenty-nine FECD eyes underwent AS-OCT epithelial thickness mapping, Scheimpflug tomography, corneal biomechanics assessment, and wavefront analysis. Mean±SD values were recorded. Spearman correlations (ρ) assessed associations between central corneal thickness (CCT), minimum corneal thickness (Thickmin), epithelial minimum thickness (Epithickmin), posterior elevation, biomechanical indices (available in 24–27 eyes), and HOAs. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.
Results
Mean CCT was 560.76±40.08 µm and Thickmin 550.07±33.92 µm; neither correlated with biomechanical indices or total HOA (all p>0.05). Mean Epithickmin was 42.34±6.69 µm. Lower Epithickmin was associated with higher epithelial RMS HOA (1.00±0.55 µm; ρ=−0.535, p=0.003), epithelial trefoil (0.31±0.24 µm; ρ=−0.494, p=0.007), anterior RMS HOA (0.91±0.51 µm; ρ=−0.412, p=0.027), and anterior coma (0.54±0.30 µm; ρ=−0.392, p=0.036).
Conclusions
In FECD, global corneal thickness was not associated with optical degradation. Localized epithelial thinning was significantly correlated with increased epithelial and anterior HOAs, suggesting that epithelial remodeling may be a key contributor to reduced optical quality in FECD.