The optic nerve is of key importance for the development of glaucoma and its impairment is the second largest cause of blindness worldwide. Although adult studies have described normal variation in the optic nerves of healthy individuals, there are no population-based data that systematically describe variability of the optic nerve in children. It is not known whether the optic nerve remains of a constant appearance after birth until disease may develop in middle-age, or whether important changes can occur in early life. Furthermore, children with atypical optic nerves are frequently investigated to exclude serious illness, because of the difficulty in characterizing normal variation in optic nerve appearance.

We propose to add much-needed data to the literature by taking the opportunity to grade a recently acquired library of retinal pictures from a population birth-cohort of healthy 12-year old children. The appearances of the optic nerves will be described, and any associations with individual characteristics such as birthweight and refraction will be noted. The pictures are already available, only the staff time to grade them is required, together with time to prepare papers for dissemination of the results. This unique opportunity will provide valuable data that will benefit opthalmologists, researchers and patients.