DOES DECOMPRESSION DIMINISH THE DISCOMFORT OF SEVERE DYSTHYROID ORBITOPATHY

We assessed whether patients perceived that surgical decompression had reduced the discomfort of dysthyroid orbitopathy. Standard pain instr uments were administered to 13 consecutive patients of a university-ba sed oculoplastic practice who had undergone two-wall orbital decompres sion for dysthyroid optic neuropathy. We used visual analog scale (VAS ) ratings of pre- and postoperative orbital discomfort. On a 0 to 10 s cale, relief of discomfort after decompression was rated as moderate o r better (VAS > 9.0) in 13 of 13 patients (mean VAS = 9.22, SD = 0.91) and complete (VAS = 10.0) in 8 of 13. Patients perceived that surgica l decompression was associated with a clinically and statistically sig nificant (p < 0.001) reduction of discomfort.