# Dry eyes and hypO?



## WildMtnHoney (Mar 19, 2015)

Could my (very) dry eyes be related to my thyroid issues?

I just returned from the opthamologist. For the past week(ish) I've had a problem opening my right eye in the mornings. It's felt "stuck". It turns out, my eye has been drying out over night and I have damaged the cornea by forcing the eye open. So now I'm to use artificial tears 4 times a day, plus something called Muro at night and first thing in the morning to help my eyes heal (need to go get that here later).

Of course, it was on the way home that I started thinking about thyroid eye disease -- but isn't that a concern with Graves? I only have thyroid peroxidase antibodies, so that's just Hashi's, right?

TIA!!


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

Is this the only time you have had issues with dry eyes?

I struggle with dry eyes as well - forever and I wear contacts but seem to do OK without drops.. What's the humidity like in your house with heat running? I for sure notice my eyes being dryer.


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## WildMtnHoney (Mar 19, 2015)

Yes, this is brand new to me. We have underfloor radiant heat, so that doesn't dry out things in the house much as other types of heating does.


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## visc (Feb 22, 2014)

I have dry eyes in the morning too. They are red and inflamed and usually I can remove a yellowish puss from my tear ducts. Maybe my eyes are infected.. But they clear up as soon as I can blink and look around.

How are your eyes now? Do you still use eye drops?


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## creepingdeath (Apr 6, 2014)

I started using "readers" in my 40's.

But when this nightmare thyroid disease started my eye sight really accelerated for the worse.

I now wear prescriptions all the time one eye worse than the other which caused slight double vision.

With these glasses it is corrected.

The eye Dr. said I had extremely dry eyes.

She told me to put a little baby shampoo along the edges of my eye lids for a few weeks and gave me free drop samples.

Tried it one time but never again.

If dry eyes was the only symptom with this insidious disease "I could Live with it.


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## BurntMarshmallow (Feb 26, 2016)

When my thyroid issue started, I kept getting styes in my eyelids from clogged meibomian glands. These are the glands that produce an oil to keep your eyes moist. My eyes had been dry for years, and I even had to have a bump surgically removed a few years ago from the white part of my eye. But despite my symptoms, none of my doctors ever suggested a vitamin deficiency. Basically, it was just a vitamin A deficiency, which causes dry eyes and thyroid problems!

Here's a study where women were given 25,000IU retinyl palmitate every day for four months to treat subclinical hypothyroidism.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23378454

"Serum TSH concentrations in vitamin A-treated subjects were significantly reduced; therefore, vitamin A supplementation might reduce the risk of subclinical hypothyroidism in premenopausal women.

You need vitamin A to convert T4 into T3. Also, riboflavin and iodine are both important for keep eyes healthy. Burning itchy eyes are a riboflavin deficiency symptom.


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Interesting. I've always had dry eyes, even when my thyroid levels are normal. How much vitamin A did you take to notice a difference?


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## clairedavas (Oct 9, 2016)

Yes Ocular surface and tear film changes are very common in patients with thyroid disease.In these cases, apart from ocular topical treatment, the patients may benefit from endocrine treatment.


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## aerixia (Jan 10, 2017)

I've been having the exact same problem. The pain every morning is like my cornea has been torn or scratched, and it's difficult to open my eyes. Even when I do try to force them open, my eyes automatically kind of seize up and close again.


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## MySharon (Mar 10, 2017)

Im newly diagnosed Hashimotos, and about 2 yrs ago my vision was changing, Im mid 40s and my Eye Dr just said its an age thing, vision was blurring and hard time reading menus and my cell phone, vitamin bottles, when I always could read just fine, before my last eye dr visit I was driving 6 hrs out of state and my eyes were aching, I told the eye dr but he just said my eyes could have been dry from not blinking enough, I also developed styes out of nowhere when I never had them a few mos ago.... now I have found out that vision issues are another sign of Thyroid issues.


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