TED is a rare disease in which the immune system attacks the muscle and fat tissue behind the eye causing inflammation, swelling, and eye bulging. Unfortunately, getting a firm diagnosis is sometimes delayed as many people with TED are juggled from doctor to doctor for months, sometimes years
To complicate things further, the terminology is confusing. Hyperthyroidism, also known as Graves’ disease, is a condition in which patients have an overactive thyroid. TED is most common in people with Graves’ disease. In fact, up to 50% of people with Graves’ disease will develop TED.
No, TED can also occur with hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s disease, and even in those with a normally functioning thyroid gland. While related to those conditions, TED itself requires separate specialists and separate management, monitoring, and treatment plan.
Thyroid eye disease (TED) is a condition that causes the muscles and soft tissues of your eye socket to swell. It happens when you have a problem with your thyroidgland. It is also called thyroid associated ophthalmopathy (TAO), thyroidorbitopathy or Graves’ orbitopathy or ophthalmopathy.
TED affects the soft tissues such as the fat and muscles surrounding your eyeball within your eye socket. The condition is characterised by a period of inflammation and swelling of these tissues (active stage), followed by an inactive (or ‘burnt out’ stage). It usually happens when you have a problem with your thyroid gland, although in some people, it can happen when the thyroid gland is working normally.
