Thyroid Eye Disease Question and Answer
What are possible treatments for TED?
There are several different type of TED treatments, including lifestyle changes, medical treatments, and surgical treatments. Two important lifestyle changes include smoking cessation and elevating the head of the bed during the active stage of the disease. Medical treatments include controlling the thyroid hormone levels with ablation of the thyroid followed by taking thyroid hormone pills, using artificial tears, lid taping at night, and/or lubricant if exposure of cornea due to TED, Anti-inflammatory medications (corticosteroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications), and diuretics during active disease. Orbital radiation therapy is a controversial therapy for TED. Surgical treatments include orbital decompression surgery, lid lengthening surgery, blepharoplasty/browplasty surgery, and squint surgery. Orbital decompression is usually utilized after a trial of high dose corticosteroids. [Back to Questions]
There are several different type of TED treatments, including lifestyle changes, medical treatments, and surgical treatments. Two important lifestyle changes include smoking cessation and elevating the head of the bed during the active stage of the disease. Medical treatments include controlling the thyroid hormone levels with ablation of the thyroid followed by taking thyroid hormone pills, using artificial tears, lid taping at night, and/or lubricant if exposure of cornea due to TED, Anti-inflammatory medications (corticosteroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications), and diuretics during active disease. Orbital radiation therapy is a controversial therapy for TED. Surgical treatments include orbital decompression surgery, lid lengthening surgery, blepharoplasty/browplasty surgery, and squint surgery. Orbital decompression is usually utilized after a trial of high dose corticosteroids. [Back to Questions]