To measure the preipapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in normal children.

Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) was measured from 458 normal children ages 6 to 12 (mean 9.13) with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT, Spectralis, Heiledlerg ) as part of a screening study conducted in several schools in multiple zip codes in Shiraz, Iran. Eligible eyes had normal appearing optic disc and met the inclusion criteria. One eye of each child was randomly selected to create a normative database of RNFLT in six sectoral regions and in the global region. Several factors affecting RNFL thickness were investigated. The average and 95% confidence interval of the RNFLT were computed in six sectoral regions and in the global region.

The average RNFLT (5 percentile and 95 percentile) in superior-temporal, superior-nasal, nasal, inferior-nasal, inferior-temporal, temporal, and global were 140.1 (111.8, 166.0), 114.6 (85.0, 147.0), 74.3 (54.8, 95.0), 116.6 (83.0, 155.3), 146.9 (119.0, 175.1), 73.2 (59.0, 89.1), 101.79 (88.0, 115.0), respectively.

RNFL variation in normal children is large and knowledge of this variation is important in evaluating retinal pathologies in children. OCT is an appropriate instrument for measuring RNFLT in children.