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Development and Aging of the Vitreous

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Abstract

During childhood the vitreous undergoes significant growth. A study (Larsen, 1971a) of 926 children showed that, on average, the length of the newborn human vitreous is 10.5 mm in the male and 10.2 mm in the female. By the age of 13 the axial length of the vitreous increases to 16.1 mm (male) and 15.6 mm (female). Fledelius (1976, 1982) used ultrasound to measure ocular dimensions in adolescent humans and found that, in the absence of changes in refractive status, growth from ages 10 to 18 results in a mean vitreous elongation of 0.35 mm. The emmetropoic adult vitreous is approximately 16.5 mm in length (Luyckx-Bacus and Weekers, 1966).

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Sebag, J., Sebag, J. (1989). Development and Aging of the Vitreous. In: The Vitreous. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8908-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8908-8_6

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