Dr. Kathryn Freidl, a board-certified glaucoma specialist at Florida Eye Specialists, shares essential information about the warning signs of glaucoma—a leading cause of blindness if left untreated. In this video, she explains how glaucoma often presents no symptoms in its early stages, making regular eye exams especially critical for patients over 40 or with a family history of the condition. Dr. Freidl discusses what vision changes could signal a problem, including peripheral vision loss and eye pressure discomfort, and outlines current glaucoma treatment options ranging from eye drops to surgery.
If you’ve ever asked, “Is glaucoma hereditary?” or wondered when to get screened, this video provides the expert answers you need to protect your vision.
Video Transcript
You should worry about glaucoma if anyone in your family has been diagnosed. In fact, a lot of times when I first diagnose someone with glaucoma, I look at the family members in the room and I say, “You all need to have eye exams.” If you have a family member who is a first-degree relative with glaucoma, you are six times more likely to develop glaucoma. Also, if you’ve ever been told that you might have glaucoma, or that the pressure is high in the eye, you really need to be having exams at least once a year — if not twice a year — to be safe.
