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Question: I have a medical report where the physician diagnosed the patient with thyroid orbitopathy. What is thyroid orbitopathy, and how do we code for it?

West Virginia Subscriber

Answer: Thyroid orbitopathy is an autoimmune condition that affects some patients who suffer from autoimmune thyroid disease. Common symptoms include:

• Proptosis (bulging eyes)
• Dry eyes
• Extra tearing
• Swollen and inflamed eyelids
• Sensitivity to light
• Eye pain and headaches

Thyroid orbitopathy is also known as thyroid eye disease (TED), Graves’ ophthalmopathy, or Graves’ orbitopathy. Patients with Graves’ disease have a higher risk of developing thyroid orbitopathy.

Currently, you’ll use H05.89 (Other disorders of orbit) to report a thyroid orbitopathy diagnosis. But the 2026 ICD-10-CM code book will offer an entirely new code subcategory. Subcategory H05.83- (Thyroid orbitopathy) will be added to the code book on October 1. A 6^th character is required to complete the H05.83- code, and the character indicates which eye or if both eyes are affected:

• H05.831 (Thyroid orbitopathy, right orbit)
• H05.832 (Thyroid orbitopathy, left orbit)
• H05.833 (Thyroid orbitopathy, bilateral)
• H05.839 (Thyroid orbitopathy, unspecified orbit)

Mike Shaughnessy, BA, CPC, Development Editor, AAPC