TREATMENTS & THYROID EYE SURGERY

Tampa and Bay Area Dr. Kwitko proudly serves the Thyroid Eyelid Surgery needs of Residents in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Hillsborough County, Pinellas County and throughout the Bay Area in West Central Florida.

Call 813.877.8665 today to schedule a confidential consultation with Oculoplastic Surgeon, Dr. Geoffrey Kwitko about your Thyroid Eyelid Surgery needs and goals.

The treatment of thyroid eye disease is aimed at restoring the normal appearance and function of the eyes. For minor symptoms such as dryness, lubricants may be all that is needed. As the signs and symptoms progress, more aggressive treatments may be needed. If the eyelids become too retracted with poor eyelid closure, and the eye is severely drying out, eyelid retraction surgery can help to allow the eyes to be better lubricated and feel and look better. Additionally this makes the bug eyed appearance much less noticeable. When the lids are too retracted it is difficult to close the eyes and the cornea, which is the clear covering on the front of the eye, can dry out. When the cornea dries out vision gets blurry, the eye hurts and becomes very light sensitive. It also makes the cornea more susceptible to corneal ulcers which if untreated can cause blindness and loss of the eye. Eyelid retraction surgery is an effective way to alleviate these problems. It is usually done as an outpatient under local anesthesia.

Since the muscles around they eye get thickened and stiff in thyroid eye disease, the eye can’t move normally and double vision can result. A type of lens called prisms can alleviate minor double vision and if it is more severe muscle surgery can solve the problem.

The most severe cases of TED have the muscles around the eye becoming so thick that they compress the optic nerve and cause loss of vision. In these cases a procedure called an orbital decompression is used to move the bones that surround the eye so that the muscles can expand into the sinuses and gets the pressure off the optic nerve. This type of surgery is more involved but works very well in severe TED cases. It also allows the bulging of the eye to become much less and helps restore normal appearance. Again this procedure is done on an outpatient basis but under general anesthesia.

Dr. Kwitko is proud to say that he has been treating TED for over 31 Years and has treated thousands of patients with TED and none of his patients have lost vision with most of them leading normal lives with comfortable normal appearing eyes.

Why should I select dr. Kwitko to treat my thyroid eye disease?

Dr. Geoffrey Kwitko is the only oculoplastic surgeon in the Tampa Bay Area who also has expertise in orbital surgery and neuro-ophthalmology. His training is specific in regard to those fields and he is board certified and fellowship trained in oculoplastic and neuro-ophthalmic surgery.