Material and method
This study was conducted in the Department of Eye Diseases and Skin and
Venereal Diseases of Harran University in 2019-2020. Study protocol was
approved by the Ethics Committee of Harran University (Document Number:
E.35564) and informed consent was received from the participants. The
right eyes of sixty generalized vitiligo patients and the right eyes of
60 healthy individuals paired with this patient group in terms of age
and gender were included in the study as a control group.
A comprehensive medical history including the drugs used for each
patient was taken and general dermatological physical examinations were
performed by the same dermatologist. Both groups also underwent a full
ophthalmological examination, which included the best corrected visual
acuity, intraocular pressure measurement with the Goldmann Applanation
Tonometer, refraction, biomicroscopy of the anterior and posterior
segment of the eye. Axial length was measured using ultrasonic
biometrics Pac-Scan 300p (Sonomed Escalon, NY) and visual field
examination was performed using Humphrey perimetry (Carl Zeiss Meditec,
Dublin, CA) with 30-2 program.
People under the age of 18, people with cataract or glaucoma, people
with a BCVA of 20/40, people with a history of ocular surgery, people
with optic nerve or retina disorders, people with systemic diseases that
can affect the eye such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension were not
included in the study and all patients between the ages of 18 - 40 with
generalized vitiligo diagnosis were included in the study.
Choroidal thickness measurements were performed by the same experienced
technician in increased depth imaging mode with the Heidelberg spectral
domain optical coherence tomography device (SD-OCT, Heidelberg
Engineering, Germany). The choroidal thickness was measured manually by
marking the distance between the outer border of the retinal pigment
epithelium and the choroid-sclera compound. In addition to the thickness
of the subfoveal choroid, seven measuring points were determined,
including 3 nasal and 3 temporal with 500 µm intervals in the temporal
and nasal directions. N1, N2 and N3 abbreviations were given to the
points identified in the nasal respectively, from the central to the
periphery; and T1, T2 and T3 abbreviations were given to the points
identified in the temporal respectively, from the central to the
periphery (figure 1). Peripapillary RNFL thickness parameters were
calculated automatically with fast RNFL mode. The software calculated
average thickness values (µm) for each of the six sectors centred on the
optical disk (temporal, temporal superior, temporal inferior, nasal,
nasal inferior, and nasal superior) (figure 2). Sections below signal
strength index 6/10 were not evaluated. Measurements were made between
09.00-12.00 in the morning to prevent diurnal changes.