The NVision team; Sara Brookes, Ryan Mahmoud, Summer Sobuh and Danielle Wellacott

NVision Eyecare has opened for business in Albany on Auckland’s North Shore. Specialising in myopia control, rigid gas permeable (RGP) lens fitting and dry eye management, the practice is focusing on speciality eye care, and is the first to offer LipiFlow thermal pulsation to treat meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD).

Owner, optometrist Ryan Mahmoud, said his passion for specialty eye care inspired him to set up NVision after honing his practice management skills as a Specsavers optometrist partner and recognising the increasing challenges facing today’s optometrists. With the release of the Dry Eye Workshop (DEWS) II report and recent advances in myopia control, it’s an exciting time to be in optometry, he said.
NVision’s model is different to many other practices, said Mahmoud, as it combines being a direct primary care practice with accepting referrals from other eye care and healthcare professionals. “I have had referrals from both ophthalmologists and optometrists for dry eye, myopia control and RGP fitting for keratoconus.”

Since the practice opened towards the start of this year, the division between direct and referral work has been relatively even, said Mahmoud, adding the practice’s digital presence plays a key role in growing the direct part. “From the beginning, our digital presence has been very important to us and something we will continue to work on to make it easier for people to find out about us and book directly with us.”

Setting up your own business can be a challenging task, he said. “Good practice locations are not readily available and it required a lot of searching and subsequent negotiating to get this site on terms that were reasonable.” It also took quite a bit of time and research to decide on the best diagnostic equipment for the business and its specialisations, said Mahmoud, but so far, the response from his peers has been very positive. “I would like to thank the optometrists and ophthalmologists that have encouraged me and supported my new practice. It has truly been heart-warming.”