Even before optometry school started, Iwona Dong, OD ’16 and Jon Dong, OD ’16 wanted to eventually open their own private practice. Dr. Iwona thought this would be in the Chicago area where she grew up and Dr. Jon knew he'd be coming back to the great Pacific Northwest. During their ICO orientation, they heard the statistic on how many couples come out of ICO but neither of them expected to find a spouse at ICO. They found each other anyway, though! After many trips between Chicago and Seattle for AAO meetings, AOA meetings and more, Dr. Iwona softened up to the idea of moving out to the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

One day, on the top level of the parking garage on a typical ICO student Target run, Dr. Iwona came up with the name and idea for See Saw Eyecare. We want our patients to SEE better than they ever SAW before!

Dr. Jon and Dr. Iwona's relationship developed over many hours of studying in the RC lounge and various local coffee shops. They were big fans of Jackalope, Bridgeport Coffee, and Overflow. They graduated in 2016 and both moved out to the PNW right away. Dr. Jon was employed at a local corporate optometry office. Dr. Iwona took more varied job opportunities in vision therapy, private practice, and OD/OMD clinics while working hard to attain the board scores she needed to attain licensure. Dr. Iwona got double the excitement when her OD license was active the same week as their marriage license!

After Krystian was born, they began taking steps to realize their dream of having a fun, family-friendly practice, focused on pediatrics and vision therapy, filling a big need in their area.

Although life with two kids under two (+ a practice) is a crazy mess sometimes, especially during a pandemic – they can't imagine living their life any other way now.