Visible Light Optical Coherence Tomography Reveals Aging at the Retinal Pigment Epithelium-Bruch’s Membrane Interface

As humans age, lipids and other debris deposit in Bruch's membrane (BM) of the human eye (1) and spaces introduced between the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and BM. These deposition processes are linked to the eventual development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading blinding disease amongst older adults. Here we investigate these deposits with visible light OCT imaging in living human subjects without overt retinal pathology. Whereas early RPE/BM deposits were previously assessed only in donor eyes <i>postmortem</i> via preparations that distort photoreceptors, our results shed light on these AMD precursors and overlying photoreceptor changes in living human eyes.