Investigation of Ocular Changes in Patients with Thyroid Disease

Ocular thyroid disease is a common complication associated with Graveschr('39') disease and hyperthyroidism, which in severe cases there is a risk of irreversible loss of vision. The aim of this study was to compare the visual acuity, refractive errors, proptosis and ocular deviation of these patients with healthy individuals.

In this historical cohort study, 65 patients with history of thyroid disease were compared with 65 healthy subjects. Patients in the age range of 24 to 60 years with a history of thyroid disease and healthy individuals were selected from those who referred to the eye clinic who did not have thyroid disease. The proptosis of the eyes was measured with Hertel exophthalmometer. Visual acuity of the patients was measured with Snellen chart and refractive error measurement was done with an auto-refractometer.

Of the patients, 53 (81.5%) were males and 12 (18.5%) were females. Sphere refractive error in patients and healthy individuals was -0.85±2.44 diopters and -0.46±1.26 diopters, respectively. The mean visual acuity in the patient and healthy groups was 0.91±0.13 and 0.96±0.08 in Snellen unit (p≤0.0001), respectively. The mean proptosis in patient and healthy individuals was 17.7±2.55 mm and 16.05±1.86 mm (p≤0.0001), respectively. The mean of total eye astigmatism in patient and healthy individuals was -1.11±1.19 diopters and -0.6±0.66 diopters, respectively (p≤0.0001).

Higher astigmatism and proptosis and decreased visual acuity in the patients, indicating thyroid disease has affected on the involved eye.