What is Thyroid Eye Disease?

Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) is a lifelong, autoimmune condition that affects the eyes and can get worse over time.

When you have TED, your body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the tissue behind your eyes. This causes inflammation and swelling of the muscle and fat tissue behind the eye. This inflammation can cause a number of different symptoms like:

Red eyes

Itchy eyes

Dry eyes

Watery eyes

Bulging eyes

Double vision

Over time, some symptoms, like red eyes, may improve or go away. But because of scarring, other symptoms, like eye bulging or double vision, may remain. It’s also possible for new symptoms to appear and for existing symptoms to get worse, this is called a flare.

Use the diagrams below to learn about the signs and symptoms of TED, how they may change or get worse over time.

TED is unpredictable and affects everyone differently, which is why symptoms can appear at any time and range from mild to severe. If TED is left untreated, scar tissue can build up causing eye damage, which could become permanent, and in rare cases, TED can lead to vision loss. This is why doctors recommend getting treatment for TED early—to help prevent eye damage.

Find a TED Eye Specialist

Not all doctors are used to treating TED. Find a TED Eye Specialist in your area to make sure you are seeing a doctor who has experience treating it.

Find a TED Eye Specialist

What’s happening to the eye in Thyroid Eye Disease?

Healthy Eye

Diagram of a healthy eye

Healthy eye

What’s happening behind the eye?

There is no inflammation (swelling) behind the eye
The muscle and fat tissue do not press against the eye or on the optic nerve, allowing for normal vision

What’s happening in front of the eye?

The eyeball and eyelid both appear normal (no redness/swelling)

Learn about TED High Inflammation signs & symptoms

Inflammatory Signs and Symptoms

Diagram of the eye during periods of high inflammation from Thyroid Eye Disease

Eye during periods of inflammation

What’s happening behind the eye?

Muscle and fat tissue become inflamed and swell
The swelling makes the eye bulge forward. The swelling can cause double vision and misaligned eyes (eyes that don’t work together), which can make it harder to track words on a page, and can cause problems with depth perception and balance. In some cases, the swelling can even threaten the ability to see

What’s happening in front of the eye?

Symptoms may appear suddenly and get worse quickly. These can include redness, pain, itchy eyes, watery eyes, pressure, eyelid retraction (eyelids that are pulled back), swollen eyes, misaligned eyes (eyes that don’t work together), vision changes, and/or bulging eyes. Your doctor may refer to this bulging as proptosis (prop-toe-sis). Learn more about TED symptoms

Learn about further eye damage that can occur

Long-Term Damage

Diagram of the eye with long-term damage from Thyroid Eye Disease

Eye with long-term damage

What’s happening behind the eye?

Scar tissue that began forming early on continues to cause damage to the eyes

If left untreated, the scar tissue behind the eye can cause symptoms such as bulging eyes (proptosis [prop-toe-sis]), double vision (diplopia [dih-ploh-pee-uh]), eyelid retraction, eye pain, and pressure
Some symptoms, such as redness or swelling, may improve

TED is an ongoing disease, so it’s possible for new symptoms to appear. Just because some symptoms slow down, does not mean they will go away. If you have not had any changes in your symptoms for quite some time, and then suddenly start to see them come back, or get worse, this is called a flare. Flares are a part of how autoimmune diseases affect the body. Approximately 15% of TED patients may have flares, regardless of how their TED was treated. Sometimes these flares are years after early symptoms stopped or lessened.

While doctors recommend getting treatment as early as possible to avoid potential damage to your eye, TEPEZZA treatment could still help even years after you’ve been diagnosed with TED.

See real-world patient’s results

Who is it treated by?

Oculoplastic surgeons
Neuro-ophthalmologists
Strabismus surgeons
Select opthalmologists who have special training and experience with treating TED patients

Learn more about these
specialized doctors

Find a TED Eye
Specialist near you

What are the treatment options?

TEPEZZA: While your doctor may prescribe other medicines for your symptoms, only TEPEZZA is FDA-approved to treat TED and it is designed to work at the source.
Surgery: TED Eye Surgery is complex and multiple surgeons may be involved. There are 4 types of TED surgery and multiple surgeries may be needed to repair the damage caused by TED.

How TEPEZZA may help

The sooner you get treatment, the better your chances of avoiding damage to your eyes. See the difference TEPEZZA can make.

Learn more

USE and IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

What is the most important information I should know about TEPEZZA?

Infusion reactions can happen during or within 24 hours after your infusion of TEPEZZA. If you have a reaction while receiving TEPEZZA, your doctor or nurse will slow or stop your infusion and treat your reaction. If you have a severe infusion reaction, your doctor may stop your treatment completely.

Tell your doctor or nurse right away if you have any of these symptoms during or after your treatment with TEPEZZA:

High blood pressure
Fast heartbeat
Redness of the face/Feeling hot

Difficulty breathing
Headache
Muscle pain

If you have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, TEPEZZA may make your IBD symptoms worse. Symptoms of worsening IBD may include: an increased number of loose stools with stomach pain or cramps, and blood in your stools. After each TEPEZZA infusion, tell your doctor right away if you have worsening IBD symptoms.

TEPEZZA may cause an increase in your blood sugar. Before starting treatment with TEPEZZA, tell your doctor if you are currently being treated for diabetes, know your blood sugar is high, or have been diagnosed with diabetes. It is important for you to take your treatments and follow an appropriate diet for glucose control as prescribed by your doctor.

TEPEZZA may cause severe hearing problems including hearing loss, which in some cases may be permanent. Tell your doctor if you have any signs or symptoms of hearing problems or changes in hearing.

Before receiving TEPEZZA, tell your doctor if you:

Have inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis).
Are currently being treated for diabetes, have been diagnosed with diabetes, or know your blood sugar is high.
Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. TEPEZZA may harm your unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you become pregnant or suspect you are pregnant during treatment with TEPEZZA.
- Women who are able to become pregnant should use an effective form of birth control (contraception) prior to starting treatment, during treatment and for at least 6 months after the final dose of TEPEZZA.
Are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. It is not known if TEPEZZA passes into your breast milk. Talk to your doctor about the best ways to feed your baby during treatment with TEPEZZA.
Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, dietary and herbal supplements. Know the medicines you take. Keep a list of them to show your doctor and pharmacist when you get a new medicine.

What are the possible side effects of TEPEZZA?

The most common side effects of TEPEZZA include muscle cramps or spasms, nausea, hair loss, diarrhea, feeling tired, high blood sugar, hearing problems, taste changes, headache, dry skin, weight loss, nail problems, and changes in menstruation.

This is not a complete list of all possible side effects. Tell your doctor or treatment team about any side effect you may have.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/safety/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please visit TEPEZZA.com for more information.

USE

TEPEZZA is a prescription medicine used to treat Thyroid Eye Disease (TED), no matter if you’ve had TED for months or years.

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