My father has glaucoma. Should I be worried?

If we have relatives with glaucoma, we should be even more attentive and vigilant to this disease. The ophthalmologist Sérgio Estrela explains that the ideal is to book an appointment at least once a year:

- Glaucoma is a multifactorial disease with several identified risk factors. One of these factors is the presence of a family history of glaucoma in the family. We know that the probability of developing glaucoma when we have a close relative with glaucoma is ten times higher. In these cases, there is no need to worry but we must be vigilant.

Vigilant how? We should be vigilant, annually at an ophthalmology appointment, where your ophthalmologist should screen you for glaucoma. Because if the disease is diagnosed early, we have the opportunity to start treatment immediately before there is optic nerve damage, and thus preserve good long-term vision.

In tomorrow's programme we learn more about glaucoma.

With the support of the Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology.