Meet TED

Meet TED, “Thyroid Eye Disease: let’s keep an eye on it”, is an Italian awareness campaign on thyroid eye disease (TED).

It is promoted by Amgen with AIBAT, AIMO, AIT, AME, APMO, Associazione Tiroidee, SIE and SISO. The aim is to raise awareness of TED, a complex and debilitating autoimmune disease affecting the tissues of the eye, and to encourage early diagnosis through collaboration between endocrinologists and ophthalmologists.

Diagnosis is often difficult and delayed because of the wide range of signs and symptoms. Some are typical, such as proptosis, eyelid retraction or double vision; others, such as redness and irritation, are easily mistaken for more common eye conditions.

The campaign tells the story in the first person, with the disease itself as narrator, voiced by the Italian actor Francesco Pannofino. It includes an eight-episode digital photostory and the five-episode podcast “Face to Face with TED”, with patients, patient associations and specialists.

The campaign website, tipresentoted.it (in Italian), offers information on signs, symptoms, diagnosis, risk factors and quality of life, and practical tools for patients and caregivers.

AIT believes this campaign is an important step in breaking the silence around TED, and invites all healthcare professionals to visit the website and discover the available tools.