Special feature
Next Gen
Helping patients ‘never gets old’
By David Goldberg
While nearly every child with glasses has
broken at least one pair while playing, when Dr.
Ritesh Patel was a kid, he had to return to his
optometrist far more often.
“I went through 17 pairs of glasses in just a few
years,” recalls Dr. Patel.
And despite the fact that Dr. Patel’s
rambunctious ways must have hit his parents
hard in the wallet, it ultimately put him on the
path to his current occupation.
“I spent so much time at the optometrist that it
was just a natural fit for me. I knew what I wanted
to do by age 10,” he says.
Dr. Patel’s dream led him to live and practice
all over the world. He was even part of the
medical team that performed examinations on
the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL.
When he moved back to Toronto in 2010, Dr.
Patel was the lead optometrist of the Herzig Eye
Institute, director of the Dry Eye Clinic and he
was the first practitioner in North America
to use the Lipiflow Thermal Pulsation device.
Now, Patel runs See & Be Seen Eyecare in
Toronto’s Liberty Village neighbourhood.
28 Optical Prism | January 2020
His favourite part of the job is meeting new people
everyday and helping them see and feel their best.
A feeling he says that “never gets old.”
And of course, every so often, there’s that one
patient with whom you make a really special
connection.
“My first hug from a patient was within a few
months of practice,” says Patel. “I helped her with
her dry eye and it totally changed her life. I will
never forget how happy she was that there was
finally a solution for her.”
Dr. Patel’s passion for giving back has led him to
participate in volunteer missions with Optometry
Giving Sight in India and VOSH in Nicaragua.
He was on the board of directors for the Ontario
Association of Optometrists (OAO) and served as
the association’s communications chair.
“I am a person that always likes to be involved,”
explains Dr. Patel. “Being part of the OAO as both
a member and director has allowed me to continue
to shape the direction that the profession is going
in and be involved beyond just practice.”
When he’s not helping patients, Dr. Patel loves
to spend time with his wife and two kids. His
hobbies include listening to old school hip hop
and cycling around Toronto. OP