We measured the optic disc topography of ten eyes from ten normal, healthy volunteers before and 1 h after pilocarpine treatment, using the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph. The mean age of the volunteers was 26.4 years, and the mean pupil diameter before and after pilocarpine treatment was 5.5 mm and 3.2 mm, respectively. We collected a series of five to ten consecutive topographic images of the optic disc for each eye, before and after treatment. The mean coefficients of variation of the measurements for the three randomly selected topographic images before pilocarpine treatment were 7.28% (1.25–15.15%) for cup volume and 7.33% (1.44–15.24%) for mean depth inside the cup margin. After treatment, the means were 12.25 (3.24–21.80%) and 12.88% (0.66–21.71%), respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed (
P < 0.05)="" between="" the="" pre="" and="" post-treatment="" coefficients="" of="" variation.="" these="" results="" suggest="" that="" care="" should="" be="" taken="" to="" evaluate="" the="" disc="" changes="" in="" eyes="" treated="" with="">
Presented in part at the 4th International Meeting on Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy, Tomography and Microscopy, Heidelberg, Germany, May 1993.
The authors have no proprietary interest in any instruments described in this article.