Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness, often progressing without noticeable symptoms until significant vision loss has occurred. In this video, Dr. Kathryn Freidl, board-certified ophthalmologist and glaucoma specialist at Florida Eye Specialists, explains how to recognize potential signs of glaucoma and why early detection is key.
You’ll learn about different types of glaucoma, including open-angle and angle-closure, and the risk factors that may increase your chances of developing this condition—such as age, family history, and high eye pressure. Dr. Freidl outlines the importance of regular comprehensive eye exams, which can catch glaucoma before symptoms develop.
She also introduces diagnostic tools like visual field testing and optical coherence tomography (OCT), and emphasizes the importance of monitoring eye pressure over time.
If you or a loved one are concerned about glaucoma or are due for an annual exam, don’t wait.
Video Transcript
If you have the type of glaucoma where your pressure goes very high in the eye, you will have symptoms like halos around lights, or headache, or pain around the eye. But unfortunately, in many folks the pressure does not go that high, and glaucoma is called the silent thief of sight — the symptoms won’t happen until very late. At that point, patients will get blurred vision, trouble reading, trouble making out signs, missing details, or tripping on things that they should have known were there. And unfortunately, at that point, we can’t fix that vision loss.
