Novel Diagnostics With Optical Coherence Tomography: Imaging of the Anterior Eye
The purpose of this research is to evaluate the optical coherence tomography (OCT), to image diseases of the eye. OCT may be useful for the early diagnosis and monitoring of a variety of diseases involving the eye, such as Fuch's Dystrophy (type of eye disease) and retinal damage (eye diseases in the back of the eye) due to diabetes.
• Normals: Normal appearing cornea, no history of corneal trauma, surgery or disease, no historical or current contact lens wear. Thirty subjects from 6 different age groups (\> 18 yrs; 20-30 yrs; 30-40 yrs; 40-50 yrs; 50-60 yrs; \> 60 yrs) will be recruited to determine the normal variations in anterior eye structure.
• LASIK patients: to participate as a LASIK patient, the subject is previously normal but may have worn contact lenses, and is scheduled to undergo LASIK.
• Contact lens wearers: to participate as a contact lens wearer the patient otherwise fulfills all criteria specified for normalcy, with the exception of contact lens wear.
• Fuchs' dystrophy patients: Fuchs' Dystrophy is characterized by guttata and clinically significant corneal edema, with a corneal thickness of \>700 microns, and/or reduced visual acuity in the morning which improves over the course of the day.
• Diabetic patients: for diabetic patients are specified in the posterior segment imaging section.