Graves’ disease ,had thyroidectomy , have thyroid eye disease

I have Graves and TED without the double vision. Right after my thyroidectomy, I could visibly see an improvement in my eyes. I felt that some of the swelling around the eyelids went down. Anyway it's been 10 months since I had my thyroidectomy and my eyes have progressively improved. I see an oculoplastic surgeon and a neuro ophthalmologist every three months who take measurements of the eyes and I was told the numbers are getting better. So in my experience the thyroidectomy did help my eyes. I'm still going to still need surgery but not as extensive as I was told before the thyroidectomy.

Hi, I would recommend having a look at the article called ' Update on thyroid eye disease and management'. It is available online.

Below I cite three paragraphs:

It is important to recognize every patient’s course of TED is different and unique. Some may have minimal signs while others have sudden onset of severe complications such as severe diplopia, proptosis and vision loss.

Smoking has a strong relationship with the course and severity of thyroid eye disease. The relationship is dose-responsive between cigarette use and probability of developing thyroid eye disease. Smoking is associated with an increased risk of ophthalmic disease after radioiodine therapy and worse or delayed outcomes for treatment of thyroid eye disease.

Uncontrolled thyroid function is associated with more severe thyroid eye disease. However, antithyroid drugs and surgical subtotal/near-total thyroidectomy therapies typically do not improve the ophthalmic disease course. In fact, radioiodine therapy for Graves’ disease can exacerbate ophthalmic disease; particularly in the context of smoking, active disease, or elevated TSH-receptor autoantibodies.

Now that scares me. I had cataract removal on both eyes. The left eye was done about five or 6 years ago, and never had any problems. My right eye was done this last January, and it is irritable, and feels gritty at times, as well as blurry vision. I just recently found out I have hyperthyroid. Now I am wondering as I wait for the appointment with the Endocrinologist, is my thyroid a part of this problem?

Thanks for revealing this!

Arlea