Clinic Director and Founder Dr. Drew Provost said the business has a long history in the Austin area and opened the first location in North Austin in 2012. Since then, he’s expanded the business to Pflugerville and most recently, Georgetown.
Dr. Provost said Great Hills Eye Care has thousands of patients in Georgetown, and when the new Costco opened in the city, it made sense to open a new location.
Great Hills Eye Care offers a variety of exams and specialty services to keep patients’ eyes healthy, including:
- comprehensive eye exams
- diabetic eye exams
- contact lens exams and evaluations
- Optomap retinal imaging
- dry eye therapy
- myopia control
- LASIK co-management
- digital eye strain
- eye disease diagnosis and management
Dr. Kelsey Tillotson, another optometrist at the Georgetown location, said one of the ways Great Hills Eye Care can help patients preserve their eye health is through a dry eye exam which scans the eye for meibomian gland dysfunction, a common side effect of digital eye strain.
“A lot of that comes from so much device usage, because when we look at a computer or phone all day, we're just not blinking as much as we should be,” she said. “So we tend to stare, and that just causes our glands to break down.”
Dr. Tillotson said she recommends the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away and blink 20 times. For patients struggling with dry eye symptoms, applying a warm compress to the eyes can also help relieve symptoms.
Digital eye strain
Dr. Provost said digital eye strain could be another factor contributing to discomfort in the eye, which can result in nearsightedness, also known as myopia, from holding the screen too close to the face.
“It's so important to reduce your screen time but also, make sure you're not holding your screen too close [to your face],” Dr. Provost said.
Dr. Provost said he talks about this with both adults and children, but for children who are nearsighted, Great Hills Eye Care offers a way to help slow the progression of myopia. The treatment is through a lens called MiSight, a soft, daily disposable contact lens that they can wear that is FDA-approved to reduce the progression of nearsightedness in kids.
Cutting-edge technology
Dr. Provost said the clinic is entirely digitized, including the paperwork aspect of appointments. This not only makes it more convenient for clients, but also reduces the chances for human error when taking prescription measurements.
Even the system used to measure patients’ glasses prescriptions is digitized. Great Hills Eye Care uses digital refraction systems, which helps determine prescriptions more accurately than manual measurements, Dr. Provost said.
The clinic also just introduced an Ocular Coherence Tomography (OCT), which is new technology staff can use to diagnose and manage many diseases. Dr. Tillotson said OCT is like an ultrasound of the eye and can help optometrists follow disease entities like glaucoma and macular degeneration.
Preventative eye care
At Great Hills Eye Care, prevention is key. Dr. Tillotson said it’s important for individuals to get an annual eye exam with Optomap retinal eye imaging for a comprehensive look at the entire eye.
Dr. Tillotson said there are many things that can impact the retina and the eye as a whole that don’t cause symptoms but can still lead to vision loss.
“I can't tell you how many cases we've had where we've had walk-in patients and they do the Optomap, and we ended up finding something emergent,” she said.
Because the eyes are connected to the body, Dr. Provost said the preventative methods at Great Hills Eye Care focus on a whole-body approach when talking about visual hygiene.
“What's good for your body is good for your eyes,” he said. “Exercise, eating healthy, all those things that apply, that's good for your eyes as well.”
Some specific actions clients incorporate into their visual hygiene routine include eating more leafy green vegetables and taking screen time breaks.
The Great Hills Eye Care difference
Great Hills Eye Care has three pillars for its eye care delivery: convenience, care and cutting-edge. Dr. Provost said the convenience factor is where Great Hills Eye Care really shines, and clients are easily able to schedule same- or next-day appointments through the live scheduler on the website.
Dr. Provost said he understands how eye doctor visits can be a strain on individuals’ schedules and wallets, and his clinic also has low fees for its services. The business has thousands of five-star reviews from clients, and prospective clients are encouraged to come experience high-quality eye care for themselves.
“Our mission is to help people see clearly and keep their eyes healthy—it’s that simple,” Dr. Provost said. “We want to make it easy for our patients by providing caring, convenient cutting-edge care.”
For more details, visit the Great Hills Eye Care website. Looking to schedule an appointment? Use the live scheduler to get in touch with the clinic’s team of providers.
The above story was produced by Summer El-Shahawy with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of its "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.
