BALTIMORE — A new treatment could be available soon for a condition that affects people with thyroid problems.
The thyroid gland, in your neck, helps control your metabolism. Problems with the thyroid are often auto-immune diseases which means part of your own immune system starts to attack the thyroid. There is a similar type of tissue in and around your eyes.
So, many people who have thyroid problems, can also develop what's known as "Thyroid Eye Disease" in which eye muscles, eyelids and other tissues behind the eye become inflamed.
Dr. Lawson Grumbine is an ophthalmologist at the Eye Center at GBMC, he joined WMAR-2 News this morning in the studio. He says right now, surgery and other treatment options can help, especially if patients recognize thyroid eye disease early.
"We're very excited," Dr. Grumbine said. "There is a medication in the final phases of study that looks like it may be our first option that we've had to actually halt the disease process and reverse some of the changes in a long-lasting manor."
That treatment has not been approved by the FDA just yet.
