To determine normal retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness by age and to investigate the relationships of the RNFL with clinical variables using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in healthy Koreans.

The peripapillary RNFL thicknesses were measured around the optic disc using consecutive circular B-scans with 3.5 mm diameter and automatically calculated using a SD-OCT.

Three hundreds fifty-two eyes of 205 healthy subjects were included in the study and RNFL thickness were measured by SD-OCT. Overall average RNFL thickness was 100.2 ± 10.9 µm, and significantly and negatively correlated with age ( r = −0.164, p = 0.002). The overall average RNFL thickness decrease per decade was 0.8 µm (95% confidence interval, −0.3 to −1.3, p = 0.019). Mean RNFL thickness of each quadrant was significantly correlated with axial length except in the superior quadrant.

This study describes the normal RNFL thickness values of Koreans as determined by SD-OCT. Furthermore, age was found to be correlated with normal RNFL thickness, however age-related changes were not uniform across every region.