This inflammation can make your eyes appear to bulge or stick out, often leading to a “staring” look. You might also notice your eyelids and eyes becoming red and swollen. In some cases, the inflammation affects the muscles controlling eye movement, which can cause your eyes to become misaligned, leading to double vision.
Although it’s rare, TED can cause serious problems like blindness due to pressure on the eye nerve or ulcers on the cornea. TED is most often linked to an overactive thyroid caused by Graves’ disease, but it can also occur in people with a normal or underactive thyroid. Around 25% of people with Graves’ disease will develop TED at some point.
It’s also called Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) or Graves’ eye disease (GED). The most common symptoms of TED include:
- Bags under the eyes
- Blurred/double vision
- Change of the eyes’ appearance (usually staring/bulging)
- Difficulty moving the eyes
- Dry or watery eyes
- Gritty feeling in the eyes
- Low tolerance of bright lights
- Pain in or behind the eye — especially when looking up, down, or sideways
- Redness of the lids and eyes
- Swelling or fullness in one or both upper eyelids
Source: Brightside
