What are the symptoms of thyroid eyes?
Many people with thyroid eye disease have mild cases. Common symptoms include dry, irritated eyes, and swelling in and around the eye. There are strategies that can help to manage these symptoms. Medications, procedures, and surgeries may also be part of treatment for TED.
A variety of different disorders can be associated with symptoms similar to those seen in thyroid eye disease. These disorders include severe obesity, a painful, bacterial skin infection affecting the eye socket (orbital cellulitis), inflammation of the muscles of the eye socket (orbital myositis), and orbital tumors.
If your healthcare provider thinks that you have thyroid eye disease, they'll order blood tests to check if your thyroid hormone levels and antibodies are too high or too low. Other tests your provider may request include: Ultrasound of the eyes. Computed tomography (CT).
- Eyelid retraction (Dalrymple's sign) is the most common presenting sign of TED, present in upto 90% of patients.
- Lid lag of the upper eyelid on downward gaze ( Von Graefe's sign) and lid edema.
- TED is the most common cause for both unilateral and bilateral axial proptosis (exophthalmos).
This itchy rash can occur on the neck, chest, back, face, and buttocks.
- Eyelid Changes.
- Ocular Surface Changes (Active TED Phase)
- Orbital Changes.
- EOM Changes.
- Optic Nerve Changes.
Quiet thyroid eye disease (TED) is an underrecognized, unique presentation of TED that defies the expected progression and response to therapy. Traditionally, thyroid eye disease (TED) or Graves' orbitopathy has been considered an inflammatory autoimmune disease that usually affects patients with Graves' disease (GD).
Various factors can increase your chances of having thyroid eye disease, including: Female sex. Cigarette smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke. History of radioactive iodine treatment for thyroid dysfunction.
To diagnose thyroid eye disease, you will need a complete eye exam, lab tests, and imaging tests. The ophthalmologist will test your vision, color vision, and visual fields. In addition, eyelid measurements will be taken, eye pressure tested, and optic nerve checked.
If you have Graves' disease, eye symptoms most often begin within six months of disease diagnosis. Very rarely, eye problems may develop long after the Graves' disease has been treated. In some patients with eye symptoms, hyperthyroidism never develops and, rarely, patients may have hypothyroidism.
What kind of doctor can diagnose thyroid eye disease?
Most endocrinologists do not treat TED. Make sure you're seeing an eye specialist, such as an oculoplastic surgeon or neuro-ophthalmologist, who has experience with it. Some ophthalmologists have special training and see more TED patients.
With Graves' disease, the immune system attacks the thyroid. In TED, the immune system attacks the muscle and fat tissue behind the eyes. Autoimmune diseases are chronic, or lifelong, conditions. The fact that people with Graves' disease often develop TED also causes confusion.
A thyroid headache may feel like a dull pulsing or throbbing sensation on both sides of the head. It may occur at the base of the neck or in a higher region. This tension-type headache can last anywhere from 30 minutes to several days and may go away after resting or taking OTC pain relievers.
You may have bulging eyes if: your eyes seem to be sticking out more than usual. you can see less of your upper eye lids (your eyes might look like they're open very wide)
Curved nails with swollen fingertip
A swollen fingertip, curved nail, and thickening skin above a nail are often signs of thyroid disease.
But what if that tongue has wavy edges that look like the edges of a pie crust? You could have a condition known as scalloped tongue. It's a known sign of hypothyroidism and other underlying health conditions.
Eyelids droop. The eyes and face become puffy. The hair becomes sparse, coarse, and dry. The skin becomes coarse, dry, scaly, and thick.
- a swelling in your neck caused by an enlarged thyroid gland (goitre)
- an irregular and/or unusually fast heart rate (palpitations)
- twitching or trembling.
- warm skin and excessive sweating.
- red palms of your hands.
- loose nails.
- a raised, itchy rash – known as hives (urticaria)
- patchy hair loss or thinning.
“As the nodules get larger, they can irritate your throat and lead to a long-lasting cough. 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.
Signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism can show up in the hands and nails. Hypothyroidism can cause dermatologic findings such as nail infection, vertical white ridges on the nails, nail splitting, brittle nails, slow nail growth, and nails lifting up.
What makes thyroid eye disease worse?
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.
Dizziness and feelings of imbalance may be caused by untreated complications of thyroid disorders such as hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. Hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism are both treatable. Symptoms will diminish or go away entirely once your thyroid hormone levels are back within a standard range.
As a rule, the amount of hormone disruption increases along with the seriousness of withdrawal-related symptoms. When an alcohol-dependent individual makes it through withdrawal and enters a period of drinking abstinence, his or her thyroid hormone levels will typically gradually return to normal.
Symptoms of thyroid eye disease (also called Graves' orbitopathy) may seem tolerable at first. However, like many health conditions, thyroid eye disease can get worse if it goes untreated. Early diagnosis and treatment can help prevent many of the complications — including vision loss — of this inflammatory disease.
TED begins with an acute phase, which means that symptoms appear suddenly and often get worse. The acute phase can last from 6 months to 2 years. The inflammation (redness and swelling) and scarring that start to form during this phase can damage your eyes, and cause a number of changes.
