American Academy of Ophthalmology
Graves orbitopathy (GO), if advanced enough to cause compressive optic neuropathy or severe exposure keratopathy, may require bony orbital decompression therapy. Some GO patients also undergo the procedure while in the inactive phase of the disease for aesthetic rehabilitative purposes. Baldeschi et al. recently reported on two such patients with inactive-phase GO who were treated with bony orbital decompression for aesthetic rehabilitation. After the surgery, the two showed clinical and radiologic evidence of reactivated orbitopathy.
Searching for clinical and radiologic reactivation of GO, the researchers also retrospectively reviewed 249 GO patients who had consecutively undergone bony orbital decompression for aesthetic rehabilitative reasons. They determined that the incidence of GO reactivation after bony orbital decompression in this patient population was 1.3 percent, with the reactivation taking place a few weeks after surgery.
These findings are important for the general ophthalmologist because GO is a common problem, and ophthalmologists should counsel patients considering aesthetic rehabilitative bony decompression surgery on the possibility of reactivation.