How to Treat Graves' Disease With Surgery

With no true cure, you should treat Graves' disease by reducing the thyroid's ability to produce hormones. With a surgery to remove some or all of the thyroid (known as a thyroidectomy), you may gain better control of hormone production.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Doctor or endocrinologist

Treat Graves' Disease With Surgery

1. Speak to your doctor about all of the possible therapies available to treat Graves' disease. Usually, doctors will prescribe medicine first and only recommend surgery if that fails.

2. Discuss with your doctor how removing your thyroid will affect your life after surgery. The surgeon's goal is to remove just enough of the gland to have it work normally. In many cases, the entire thyroid is removed, which requires the use of replacement thyroid hormones for the rest of your life.

3. Prepare for the surgery. You may be asked to take nonradioactive iodine, which may reduce the blood supply to the thyroid gland, making surgery safer.

4. Expect to stay in the hospital at least overnight after surgery, but you may remain hospitalized for up to 5 days.

5. Give yourself a few weeks to recover after surgery. You should be able to return to work and your normal schedule after a few weeks of rest.

6. Return to your doctor for regular follow-ups. You should have your thyroid levels tested at least once a year. High thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels in your blood can indicate hyperthyroidism.

Treat Graves' Disease Ophthalmopathy With Surgery

7. Treat the underlying cause of Graves' disease before you treat the ophthalmopathy caused by it. In many cases, the eyes will return to normal with treatment.

8. Speak to your doctor about any concerns you have concerning your physical appearance. Protruding eyes may only cause mild physical discomfort, but they can be a burden both mentally and emotionally.

9. Have orbital decompression surgery to give your eyes more room to move back to their normal position. The bone between your eye socket and sinuses will be removed, creating the extra space.

10. Choose eye muscle surgery to properly align your eyes. Graves' disease can make your eye muscles too short. In surgery, your doctor will cut the muscle where it attaches to your eyeball and reattach it farther back.

11. Know that additional surgery may be necessary and new eye problems may occur.

Tips & Warnings

• Thyroid surgery is quite common outside the United States. In the states, radioactive iodine and medication tend to be the first choices to treat Graves' disease.

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