Spectral reflectance of the human ocular fundus.

Reflectance spectra from discrete sites in the human ocular fundus were measured with an experimental reflectometer in the visible and near-infrared parts of the spectrum. The principal study population consisted of ten subjects 22 to 38 years of age with a wide range of degree of fundus melanin pigmentation. Reflectance spectra were obtained from the nasal fundus, the fovea, and an area 2.5 degrees from the fovea. Spectra were also recorded from several older subjects and from one aphakic patient with a coloboma. The reflectance spectra were found to be influenced by the degree of individual and local melanin pigmentation of the fundus, the amount of blood in the choroid, the transmission properties of the ocular media, and the discrete reflections in the stratified fundus layers. Mathematical models of the optical properties of the stratified layers are proposed and are fitted to the experimental fundus reflectance spectra. The models account for the absorption by blood, melanin, macular pigment, and ocular media, and incorporate tissue scattering and discrete reflectors corresponding to anatomical layers.