The Impact of TED
The real impact of Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) goes beyond the eyes.
The visible and nonvisible symptoms can have a debilitating impact on emotional well-being, daily activities and quality of life.1
Symptoms of TED can be difficult to cope with, leading some people to feel isolated, lonely or experience a drop in self-confidence.2
Key Things to Know About the Impact of TED:
- TED can change someone’s appearance or alter their expression, which may impact the way people react to them. This can be difficult to cope with.1,2
- Like other appearance-altering conditions, TED is associated with significant psychological effects with many patients reporting distress caused by a change in their appearance, and a loss of self-confidence.1,2
- 71% feel their self-confidence has gone down.3*
- A diagnosis of TED can feel isolating.2
- TED can lead to job loss and affect relationships, which may lead to people withdrawing from social situations.1,2
- People with TED are 7 times more likely to take sick leave, half as likely to return to work after sick leave or unemployment, and are 4 times more likely to need a disability benefit compared to the general population.4**
If you are experiencing any of these issues, talk to your doctor. You are not alone.
* Based on a Graves’ Ophthalmopathy Quality Of Life Questionnaire (GO-QOL) survey of 70 individuals living with TED.
** Based on a longitudinal register study of 862 patients with nontoxic goiter, hyperthyroidism, Graves’ orbitopathy (GO), autoimmune hypothyroidism, or other thyroid diseases observed between 1994–2011.
Patient Stories
Hear from people living with Thyroid Eye Disease (TED)
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References
- Smith TJ, Hegedüs L, Lesser I, et al. How patients experience thyroid eye disease. Front Endocrinol. 2023 Nov 9;14:1283374
- British Thyroid Foundation. Your guide to thyroid eye disease. https://www.btf-thyroid.org/thyroid-eye-disease-leaflet. Accessed: April 1, 2025.
- Terwee CB, Gerding MN, Dekker FW, et al. Development of a disease specific quality of life questionnaire for patients with Graves’ ophthalmopathy: the GO-QOL. Br J Ophthalmol. 1998;82(7):773-779
- Nexo MA, Watt T, Pedersen J, et al. Increased risk of long-term sickness absence, lower rate of return to work, and higher risk of unemployment and disability pensioning for thyroid patients: a Danish register- based cohort study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2014 Sep;99(9):3184-92
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