Acquired Lower Eyelid Epiblepharon in Patients with Thyroid Eye Disease

Purpose: To describe a series of patients with acquired epiblepharon secondary to thyroid-related orbitopathy.

Methods: Retrospective case series of 9 patients with thyroid-related orbitopathy who had epiblepharon.

Results: Seven patients had epiblepharon in both lower eyelids and 2 patients had it in one lower eyelid. Six of the 9 patients were Asian. Each patient had punctate keratopathy. Epiblepharon resolved in all but one patient after treating coexisting manifestations of thyroid-related orbitopathy. One patient required epiblepharon repair.

Conclusions: We describe a new finding of acquired epiblepharon in the setting of thyroid-related orbitopathy. The majority of patients have spontaneous resolution of the epiblepharon after other surgical procedures for thyroid-related orbitopathy.