The horizontal diameter of the NCO in three groups of patients: normals, papilledema, and AION (affected and unaffected eye). Lengths were measured directly. The slight relative expansion of the NCO exhibited on the thin-plate spline and the mild differences implied along PC2 among patients with AION was not statistically significant by ANOVA. Box-whisker plots indicate interquartile range (25th–75th percentile), median (line), mean (cross hair), and range (whiskers).