Debbie,
I just started radiation treatments on Thursday; I will have 10 treatments altogether. I see an opthomologist who does treat a lot of Graves patients and he took one look at me and recommended radiation. I am in it to hopefully decrease some of the swelling (my lids and under eyes are horrible) and to arrest the progression of the eye disease. I was diagnosed last July and the optho told me you have more success the sooner they begin. He did mention that once there is scar tissue behind the eye, it’s harder to correct. But I don’t see what harm there would be to try the radiation first before opting for surgery. From the way it was explained to me, there is very little risk involved and the treatments themselves are very simple. Only takes about 5 minutes once all the prep work is done (they make a face mask for you so the radiation hits exactly where its supposed to). The opthomologist I am seeing is also a plastic surgeon. He told me that he wouldn’t do eyelid surgery on anyone with Graves Eye before they had radiation. There’s too much chance that your eyelids could swell again and then ruin everything. I can tell you this, if I have to go thru life looking like an old houndog, I will definitely have surgery. My eyes aren’t really bulging thank God. That is the thing I’m hoping to avoid by having these treatments now. I understand that it takes at least 3 mos and up to 6 before I start to see any improvement. I hope this helps with your decision. I hope I am as lucky as you were to have the thyroid stablize itself. I am on PTU and probably will be for a while. I will avoid radioactive iodine because of the eye involvement and sure am not anxious to have surgery.
Erica