Exploring autism via the retina: Comparative insights in children with autism spectrum disorder and typical development.

Li et al. (2024) took pictures of the back of the eye. They used two quick, non-invasive scans called OCT and OCT-A.

They compared kids with autism to same-age peers without autism. The team looked for tiny differences in retinal layers and blood vessels.

Children with autism showed clear structural differences in the retina. The most striking gap was in the left-eye ellipsoid zone thickness and in arteriovenous caliber size.

These eye markers were present even though no child had known eye disease.

Wang et al. (2025) built on this idea with a larger sample and reached 78 % accuracy using the same OCT-A scans. Their work turns the 2024 snapshot into a practical classifier.

Wu et al. (2023) found kids with autism already visit eye doctors more often for problems like strabismus and amblyopia. The new retinal data give those visits an extra purpose—early ASD screening.

Ecker (2017) reviewed brain MRI biomarkers and warned that none were ready for clinic use. Retinal imaging now offers a faster, cheaper structural marker that may leapfrog the older brain-based hopes.

You can add five-minute retinal scans to your assessment battery. No sedation, no radiation, and kids can watch a video during the test. If the left-eye ellipsoid zone or vessel caliber falls outside the typical range, flag the case for deeper autism evaluation. Pair the scan with routine vision checks that Chi-Shin et al. show these children already need. In short, eye imaging gives you an objective, child-friendly data point that complements your behavioral observations.