Methods to reduce variance in OCT analysis of the macula

A method of assessing the degree of abnormality in a patient's eye based on measurements of the patient's eye obtained with an optical coherence tomography (OCT) device and comparing those measurements to a collection of OCT measurements of eyes of a population of normal subjects, the method comprising:

• creating a standard form of the macula from a collection of measurements contained in a normative database wherein the standard form reduces the inter-individual variability within the normative data, wherein the standard form is created by aligning the collection of measurements to each other and using the mean thickness of the collection of the measurements;
• spatially transforming each measurement in the collection of measurements relative to the standard form based on anatomical information;
• spatially transforming the measurements of the patient's eye relative to the standard form based on anatomical information;
• comparing the spatially transformed measurements of the patient's eye to the spatially transformed collection of measurements to determine the degree of abnormality in a patient's eye;
• and
• displaying or storing the results of the comparison.