Consistent Screening Important for Addressing Glaucoma

Catching glaucoma early through routine screening is the best way to get effective results from treatment for glaucoma, according to Jonathan Eisengart, MD, an ophthalmologist at Cleveland Clinic.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Transcript

What should everyone know about glaucoma?

I think the most important thing to know is just that it's really, totally asymptomatic. That means it has no symptoms. It has no symptoms until late in the disease. So there's 2 things about glaucoma that make it a perfect disease for screening. And screening means we check a whole lot of people, and if anybody has it, we can start treatment, right? So firstly, glaucoma has years and years where it has no symptoms, and if we catch it during that time, we can do something about it. So treatment for glaucoma is much better when it's caught early. We can certainly help people when glaucoma is caught very late in the disease, but we can't reverse any damage that's already been done. So for those reasons, screening is really important. You know that means, if you're in your 40s, get an eye exam, if in your 50s get an eye exam or two, and then, once you're in your 60s, really, an eye exam every 1 to 2 years, if you don't have any other history or eye diseases, is highly recommended. Obviously, the risk for glaucoma gets more and more as you get older. And just getting your eye exam, getting checked along with your general health once a year is really important.