Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disease which affects the thyroid. It causes heart palpitations, mood swings and hair loss; sometimes for women, it can make their eyes bulge. Now, there is a surgical solution for patients.
Graves’ disease caused Tracy Farrow’s thyroid to be overactive. It also caused enlarged muscles and fat behind the eye.
Farrow told Ivanhoe, ‘My eye lashes came all the way up past my eyebrow, so my eye was just very big.’
It looked bad, it hurt, and it threatened Tracy’s eyesight. Now, she is back to normal thanks to an advanced surgical approach.
Grant Gilliland, MD, Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgeon at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas told Ivanhoe, ‘We’ll actually take this outer part and remove it, and that way we create what we call a balanced orbital decompression.’
Using a CT scan as a guide, an oculoplastic surgeon goes in on one side and an ear nose and throat surgeon goes in through the sinuses. They clear out enough space for the eye to move back into the socket.
‘We’ve even had some patients that were completely blind that we’ve done this procedure on and gotten their vision back to 20/20,’ Dr. Gilliland said.
This technique has shown to improve outcomes by reducing double vision, reducing pain, improving sight and improving appearance.
Amol Bhatki, MD, Otolaryngologist/ENT Surgeon at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas said, ‘The best part of it is that we can do it in a way that they get a good outcome and don’t have to have future issues, and they can get back into work and get back into their normal lifestyle pretty quickly.’
Farrow exclaimed, ‘It’s really a miracle what all they can do.’ Helping people like Tracy get their eye health and confidence back.
The procedure is covered by most insurance companies including Medicare.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Supervising Producer; Don Wall, Field Producer; Cortni Spearman, Assistant Producer; Jamison Koczan, Editor and Mikon Haaksman, Videographer.
