OCULAR SURFACE CHANGES IN PATIENTS WITH THYROID OPHTHALMOPATHY

To determine the severity of the disease in patients with a diagnosis of thyroid ophthalmopathy and to make a quantitative and qualitative classification of observed ocular surface disorders.

This study was conducted at Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Mersin University between March 2020 and March 2021.

176 eyes of 48 patients and 40 healthy adult control group were included in this study. OSDI questionnaire, NOSPECS stage, Clinical Activity Scores, Schirmer I test, EUGOGO disease severity scale, ocular surface staining scores, tear break-up time, Hertel exophthalmometer measurements, and blink count were recorded.

There were 15 (31.3%) male, 33 (68.8%) female in the patient group, 14 (35%) male and 26 (65%) female in the control group. The mean age of the patient group was 47.6 years, the mean age of the control group was 45.3 years. Both groups were similar in terms of these characteristics. OSDI scores was 63.5 in the patient group and 3 in the control group. The tear breakout time was 9.5 seconds in the patient group and 20 seconds in the control group. The Schirmer I test was 15 millimeters in the patient group and 27 millimeters in the control group. (p< 0.001, for all data)

Of the patients, 23 (47.9%) had mild disease, 16 (33.3%) had moderate-to-severe disease, and nine (18.8%) had sight-threatening disease. As the disease severity increased, the mean age of the patients increased, the OSDI scores decreased, and the tear breakout times decreased.