Treatment focuses on managing thyroid disease and then treating the eye symptoms. In most cases, conservative treatment with lubricating eye drops helps with symptoms. However, some people need corticosteroids or other medication. About 2 in 10 people with thyroid eye disease will need surgery.
TEPEZZA (teprotumumab) is the only medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat thyroid eye disease. It reduces eye swelling, bulging, and double vision. You'll also experience less pain and redness from treatment.
TEPEZZA reduces eye bulging and double vision. It also improves the signs and symptoms of Thyroid Eye Disease (TED), including eye pain, redness, and swelling. TEPEZZA is a prescription medicine used to treat TED.
Radioactive iodine can worsen TED and is generally not recommended in individuals with moderate-to-severe or sight-threatening eye disease. In individuals with mild eye disease, radioactive iodine can be considered as initial treatment.
Smoking is the biggest external factor known to make the disease worse and it is important for affected people to stop smoking immediately. deteriorating vision or worsening prominence – medications such as steroids or steroid-like medications (immunosuppressive treatment) are used to reduce the swelling.
Vitamin D supplementation may help lessen the risk of developing thyroid eye disease (TED), and thus potential eye damage, in patients with Graves' disease.
Living with TED can be both physically and emotionally challenging for people as their everyday lives are affected, from being unable to drive with double vision or sleeping with their eyes open. Some patients are unable to work due to visual changes or pain behind the eye.
Because TAO can precede, coincide with or succeed the diagnosis of thyroid dysfunction, optometrists need to be capable of making an early diagnosis, as TAO can be vision-threatening, impact a patient's appearance and result in loss of quality of life.
Symptoms usually last 1 to 2 years and often go away on their own. In rare cases, swelling around the eyes can press on the optic nerve (the nerve that connects the eye to the brain) and cause vision loss.
Elevate Your Head in Bed
Swollen eyelids are a common symptom of thyroid eye disease. Instead of lying flat as you sleep, raise the head of your bed.
Ocular symptoms can range from mild to severe; but only 10-20% of patients have sight threatening disease. Another tissue that can also be involved in the immune attack of Graves' eye disease is the skin of the shins.
Thyroid eye disease (TED) is an autoimmune disease caused by the activation of orbital fibroblasts by autoantibodies directed against thyroid receptors. TED is a rare disease, which had an incidence rate of approximately 19 in 100,000 people per year in one study.
According to the Mayo Clinic, supplements such as calcium, iron, multivitamins containing iron, and antacids containing magnesium or aluminum can potentially have interactions with thyroid medications.
Fat and muscle tissue can swell severely, causing debilitating symptoms, including pain around/behind the eyes, eye movement abnormalities, bulging eyes (proptosis), and double vision (diplopia), manifesting in appearance and vision quality of life (QOL) changes.
Thyroid eye disease has several distinct phases:
Active phase: Signs and symptoms of the disease flare up. The active phase of thyroid eye disease lasts about one year in nonsmokers, but can last up to two to three years in smokers.
Total thyroidectomy prevents further progression of Graves' eye disease and is an immediate cure of the process. For this reason, surgery is the preferred treatment for patients with Graves' eye disease.
The active phase, marked by inflammation, usually lasts from six months to two years. The focus during this stage is on medical treatment to relieve the eye symptoms. During the second phase, or the stable phase, inflammation and other symptoms have subsided.
Sensitive Skin and Skin Discoloration
Thyroid hormones also influence the quality of your skin in various ways. For example, with hyperthyroidism, you may notice itchy and dry patches of skin. Your face may feel softer and swollen. You may even notice swelling around your fingertips.
Age. Graves' disease usually develops in people before age 40. Other autoimmune disorders. People with other disorders of the immune system, such as type 1 diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis, have an increased risk.
For most people, this cough is a dry, hacking sort of cough.” In addition to cough, thyroid growth can lead to pressing on the vocal cords and a hoarse voice, or pressing on the esophagus and difficulty swallowing food. You may also notice swelling or pain in the front of your lower neck, and even into your ears.
With thyroid fatigue, you may feel like you can't get through a day without a nap. You may sleep more than usual but still feel completely exhausted. You may not even have the energy to exercise. At times, you may fall asleep during the day or very quickly at night.