Thyroid Eye Clinic
The UC San Diego Shiley Eye Center established a special clinic to treat Southern Californians with thyroid-related eye disease.
Multidisciplinary Team Of Subspecialists
This clinic uniquely offers coordinated, multidisciplinary care by subspecialists that provides each patient individualized treatment, helping people with severe functional and cosmetic abnormalities that can result from this disease.
The subspecialists are:
Thyroid-Related Eye Disease Symptoms
The expertise of Shiley specialists provides the best coordinated care for patients suffering from thyroid-eye disease.
Mild Symptoms
Early eye symptoms, which may include dryness, redness, itching, and swelling of the lids, are usually mild. These mild symptoms can often be successfully treated with frequent applications of lubricating eye drops and eye covers at night.
Eye Protrusion, Disfigurement & Eyelid Retraction
In many cases, protrusion of the eye, producing disfigurement and eyelid retraction (see photo below), may occur and progress to a point where the eyes do not close completely. Once inflamed, the eye disease may remain active from several months to as long as three years. However, the condition generally subsides over a period of time and, occasionally, improves completely. Approximately six months after the condition has stabilized, corrective surgery can be considered.
Surgical Options
Depending on how thyroid eye disease has affected the patient's eyes, surgery options include orbital decompression to place the eye back in its socket, alleviation of retracted eyelids, loosening of the eyelid muscles, as well as removal of scar tissue, excessive fatty tissue and skin.
A small number of patients will develop double vision (diplopia), which is the result of scarring and inflammation of the eye movement muscles. In these cases, medical treatment, radiotherapy, and/or muscle surgery may be required to restore vision. In addition, Shiley Eye Center is one of the few centers nationally that offers state-of-the-art Botox Therapy for these eye alignment disorders.
To schedule an appointment with the Thyroid Eye Clinic, call 858-534-6290