Quantitative Analysis of the Iris Surface Smoothness by Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography in Fuchs Uveitis.

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the value of "smoothness index (SI)" as a novel tool for quantitative analysis of iris surface findings in unilateral Fuchs' uveitis (FU). METHODS: Both phakic eyes from patients with unilateral FU as well as healthy control subjects underwent anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT). The ImageJ software was used for calculating the SI. RESULTS: Forty eyes from 20 patients with unilateral FU and 40 eyes from 20 healthy subjects were enrolled. In FU eyes, mean overall SI (0.876 ± 0.030) was significantly higher than fellow control eyes (0.841 ± 0.041) (p = .001). Mean inter-eye difference for overall SI in the FU patients (0.037 ± 0.030) was significantly larger than the healthy control subjects (0.018 ± 0.014) (p = .033). CONCLUSION: Iris "smoothness index" can be used to quantitatively assess iris surface smoothness and may facilitate the diagnosis of subtle iris atrophic changes in eyes affected by FU especially in the absence of heterochromia.