AIM: To investigate the changes of retina in amblyopic eye by measuring macular retinal thickness in hyperopicametropic amblyopic patients.

METHODS: Optical coherence tomography(OCT)was used to measure the macular retinal thickness value in 17 amblyopic patients(20 eyes)and 14 healthy controls(20 eyes). The result was processed as retinal thickness value and thickness map by computer. The data were analyzed by SPSS 13.0 software package.

RESULTS: The retinal thickness of central sector or region in amblyopic eyes were thicker than those in normal eyes(P<0.05), in the inner ring, the difference of nasal quadrant between amblyopic eyes and normal eyes was statistically significant(P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in other three quadrants of the inner ring and in any quadrant of the outer ring between amblyopic eyes and normal eyes(P>0.05).

CONCLUSION: The macular retina thickness of the central region is thicker in hyperopic ametropic amblyopic patient. OCT is a noninvasive, noncontact technique that visualizes the retinal structure in vivo, this technique may be used to find the potential initial neural site of the visual deficit in this condition.