More Than Meets the Eye

Our conversation with Dr. and Mrs. Andy Hawari, Co-Owners of Mineola Eyecare

During his junior year of high school, Dr. Andy Hawari received an interesting assignment.  “I was asked to list careers I could see myself pursuing,” he said, “so I turned in a full page of ideas.  Everything involved working outdoors, except for one.” 

That one “indoor” career was working in Optometry. 

Today, Dr. Hawari and his wife, Debra, own and operate Mineola Eyecare.  “I stay excited about being an optometrist,” Dr. Hawari said, “because I get to help people every day.  My work rarely makes people hurt; instead, people leave my office with the ability to see.”

Giving his patients “the best possible care” is Dr. Hawari’s personal passion.  That desire is evident in his focus on technology.  “We pride ourselves on staying on the cutting edge” of medical advancements, he said. 

Dr. Hawari was among the first 500 doctors in the world to offer the Optomap retinal exam, which provides a near three-dimensional image of a patient’s retina, providing early warning against the development of eye disease.  Dr. Hawari is a fan of Optomap for other reasons, too: it involves no pupil dilation, eye drops, blurred vision, and sensitivity to light. 

When the time comes for patients to pick out a pair of glasses, Dr. Hawari has more technology waiting.  By standing in front of a special camera, Dr. Hawari can take pictures of a patient in several pairs of glasses, then let him or her take closer look.  “This is the answer,” Dr. Hawari says, for patients who can’t see well enough to know if they like a prospective pair of glasses by looking in a mirror. “We can even save the pictures on a disk so patients can show their spouses,” he added.

Quality care extends past Dr. Hawari’s examination room and into his lobby.  “My goal is for people leaving my office to have had a ‘wow’ experience.  We want coming to the eye doctor to be something patients can tell their friends about.”  To that end, Dr. Hawari serves Starbucks coffee in his lobby.  He also has a large television playing educational videos about the eye.  Unless kids are waiting, that is: “When we see kids in our waiting room,” Dr. Hawari said, “someone runs out and puts on cartoons.”

Always early adopters of new technologies, Dr. and Mrs. Hawari were among the first BankTexas customers to enroll in eBank, our free online banking product.  Five years later, they still call online banking “a tremendous convenience.”

More information about Dr. and Mrs. Hawari’s practice is available online at www.mineolaeyecare.com.