Introduction
Vitiligo is a disease whose etiopathogenesis is unknown, characterized
by the formation of depigmentation in different parts of the skin due to
melanocyte destruction (1). The loss of pigment cells may not be limited
to the skin, and various ocular abnormalities can be seen as melanocytes
in the eyes develop from neural crest cells (2, 3, 4). These melanocytes
are found in uveal tissues such as the eyelash, retinal pigment
epithelium, choroid, ciliary body, and iris. Melanin in these tissues
can disappear when destruction occurs in cutaneous melanocytes in
vitiligo patients (5). As a result, some studies reported hypopigmented
spots on the iris and retina, atrophic changes in the peripapillary
area, degeneration in the retinal pigment epithelium and chorioretinal
areas (2, 3, 6).
The choroid is a highly vascularized and pigmented tissue that feeds the
outer retina, and especially the stroma of the choroidal layer contains
a high number of melanocytes. Melanin, produced in melanocytes in the
choroidal layer and stored in melanosomes, has a crucial role in
protecting and absorbing light from intraocular reflection (4). There
are a limited number of studies showing that the affected choroid is
also affected in vitiligo in some systemic inflammatory diseases (5, 7).
Rogosic et al. found that there was an association between the duration
of vitiligo and the development of glaucoma (8).
There are also studies indicating impaired retinal electrophysiological
function in vitiligo patients (9, 10). Abnormal electro-oculographic
findings of visual evoked potentials were observed, especially in
patients with vitiligo with large skin involvement and longer disease
duration (10).
We aimed to compare the choroid and the RNFL thicknesses of vitiligo
patients using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT)
because it is not known enough how and how much the sensitive retinal
nerve fiber layer (RNFL) of specific importance is affected in the
evaluation of glaucomatous damage with the highly pigmented and
vascularized choroidal tissue.