(PRESS RELEASE) CITY, STATE — Prevent Blindness, the nation’s leading nonprofit eye health and safety organization, has declared Nov. 18-24, 2024, as its fifth annual “Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) Awareness Week.” TED, also known as Graves’ Eye Disease or Graves’ ophthalmopathy, is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system causes inflammation and swelling and stimulates the production of muscle tissue and fat behind the eye. This year’s TED Awareness Week is supported by Amgen, Immunovant Inc., Tourmaline Bio, Inc., and Viridian Therapeutics.
Symptoms of TED include:
- Bulging eyes (proptosis)
- Dry, gritty and irritated eyes
- Red eyes
- Puffy eyelids
- Sensitivity to light
- Watery eyes
In more advanced cases of TED, patients may also experience:
- Trouble moving eyes and fully closing eyelids
- Corneal ulcers caused by an inability to completely close eyelids
- Colors that appear to be dull or not as bright
- Blurred or loss of vision due to optic nerve compression or corneal damage
A recent study found that patients with TED are more likely to develop depression and anxiety. They may also feel reduced self-confidence, a decreased desire to socialize with others, and difficulties with productivity at school or work. Prevent Blindness offers TED patients and others the Vision Loss and Mental Wellness resource from its Living Well With Low Vision program. The dedicated webpage offers tips to support mental health and links to mental health organizations.
To help educate patients, care partners, and healthcare professionals, Prevent Blindness provides a variety of free TED educational resources, including comprehensive fact sheets and social media graphics, available in English and Spanish, and a dedicated webpage. As part of its Focus on Eye Health Expert Series, Prevent Blindness also offers episodes:
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- “Thyroid Eye Disease and the TED Community,” featuring Christine Gustafson, Executive Director and CEO of the TED Community Organization and Prevent Blindness ASPECT Program graduate, discussing her TED journey, her work to establish her non-profit group, and the resources it provides.
- “Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) and Mental Wellness,” featuring neuro-ophthalmic conditions expert Prem Subramanian, MD, PhD, Clifford R. and Janice N. Merrill Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs at Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center, UCHealth, discusses TED, its potential impact on mental health, and the importance of patient and healthcare provider communication to help improve health outcomes.
- “Thyroid Eye Disease (TED),” with Sara Wester, MD, FACS, professor of clinical ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and TED patient Stephen Bander.
“We are in an exciting time of offering hope and help to those with thyroid eye disease and their care partners, thanks to access to new treatment options and the development of new medications on the horizon,” said Jeff Todd, Prevent Blindness president and CEO. “Because TED often impacts vision and mental health, our goal is to provide the public, patients, and care partners with information needed to understand and mitigate the effects of TED and help patients enjoy a high quality of life for years to come.”
For more information on TED, please visit here.
For more information on low vision and resources, visit Living Well with Low Vision, here.
