S. Rimmer et al., GROWTH OF THE HUMAN OPTIC DISK AND NERVE DURING GESTATION, CHILDHOOD,AND EARLY ADULTHOOD, American journal of ophthalmology, 116(6), 1993, pp. 748-753
We measured vertical and horizontal diameters of the optic disk and re
trobulbar optic nerve in eyes from 95 patients on whom autopsies were
performed at the UCLA Medical Center over a 20-year period. Ages at de
ath ranged from 4.8 months' gestation to 21.9 years. Optic disk surfac
e area and nerve cross-sectional area were calculated for each subject
by using the formula for an ellipse. Approximately 50% of the growth
of the optic disk and nerve occurs by 20 weeks' gestation, and 75% by
birth; 95% of the growth occurs before the age of 1 year. All optic di
sk and nerve measurements correlate strongly (correlations > .67; P <
.0001) with subject height and globe anteroposterior diameter. We appl
ied our results to the current understanding of optic disk and nerve d
evelopment, and compared them to previous clinical and pathologic stud
ies of optic nerve dimensions in adults and older children.