Background: Hypertension (HTN) affects cardiovascular, renal and neurological systems. The poorly controlled
blood pressure may also cause structural and functional retinal damage. Objective: To assess changes in foveal
avascular zone (FAZ) and macular vessel density using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) in
hypertensive patients. Patients and Methods: This case control observational study was performed on 120 eyes,
divided into 3 groups. Group A: 40 eyes of 26 patients with HTN for more than 10 years, group B: 40 eyes of 22
patients with HTN less than 10 years, and group C: 40 eyes of 20 normal subjects with completely normal
ophthalmological examination. All participants underwent OCTA.
Results: There was no significant variation in age, gender or FAZ between the three studied groups. Superficial
capillary plexuses in parafovea, parafovea superior hemi, parafovea inferior hemi, perifovea, perifovea superior hemi,
and perifovea inferior hemi were considerably higher in group C than in group A (p =0.002, 0.001, 0.011, 0.014,
0.041, and 0.002, respectively) and group B (p