Effectiveness of orbital decompression for endocrine orbitopathy and impact on quality of life: A retrospective study

To evaluate the effectiveness of orbital decompression intervention in terms of variation of the exophthalmos and to highlight its association with changes in quality of life before and after surgery. Medical records of patients with moderate-severe GO who underwent orbital decompression surgery were retrospectively reviewed. Clinical parameters, including demographic characteristics, surgical technique, exophthalmos values, and QoL using the GO-QoL questionnaire were studied before and after orbital decompression and analyzed. Thirty patients were included in the study. Surgery was bilateral 26 patients and unilateral in 4 patients (56 operated orbits). Before surgery the average value of exophthalmometry was 24.96 (±2.68) mm. The questionnaires submitted for assessment of the quality of life (GO-QoL) yielded average values of 43.3 for the visual function (VF) and 44.03 for the appearance (AP). 20 patients (64.3%) underwent combined bone and fat decompression surgery, 9 underwent fat decompression, and 1 underwent bone decompression. After surgery, the average values of exophthalmometry were 21.8 (±2.34) mm, with an average reduction of 3.20 (±2.35) mm. (p < 0.0001) GO-QoL questionnaires administered after surgery showed a mean VF score of 76.73 (±26.75), and AP score of 73.71 (±21.89). (p < 0.001, paired t-test) Orbital decompressive surgery is not only effective on GO, but also on a long-term improvement in overall well-being, self-confidence and QoL.