The bright, spacious look of its expanded facility and the welcoming smiles of the front desk staff are the first things that impress patients upon entering Silicon Valley Eyecare Optometry and Contact Lenses, 770 Scott Blvd. at Homestead Road.
The independently owned private practice, which opened at a different Santa Clara location in the late 1940s, takes justifiable pride in giving cutting-edge care to generations of families, including patients with low vision eye diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
“I have been a happy, satisfied patient since the 1960s. My children and grandchildren are now patients at Silicon Valley Eyecare—and some travel from out of town to Santa Clara for their yearly check-ups. We recommend SVE to friends and family because of their outstanding reputation and service. They truly care about their patients,” writes Betty Carmody from San Jose in an email.
“We’re a unique practice. We’re big, and we continually update and bring in any new technology that we think will serve our patients better,” says Dr. Lou Ann Alexander, one of four partners in the practice, along with Doctors Jeffery A. Calmere, Raymond S. Chin, and Deborah A. McBride.
Alexander points out a new piece of equipment to take digital retinal photos to detect eye diseases, a machine to make lenses for glasses on site to give speedier service, drawer upon drawer of lenses from diverse manufacturers in the expanded contact lens area, eight exam rooms, a separate children’s area for fitting glasses, and walls and cases upon cases of eye glasses. It is impressive.
“We pride ourselves on providing exceptional service to our patients,” says office manager Amy Leith, hired in 2002. “What I think is special about Silicon Valley Eyecare is that we have such a broad range of practice. Our patient base is very diverse, from infants up to 90-plus years. We can pretty much take care of anyone, no matter the age or what is going on with their eyes.”