OD
Custom Contact Lenses, Keratoconus, Cornea & Dry Eye, Myopia Management, Primary and Routine Eye Care, Eye Emergencies
Illinois College of Optometry
Washington State University,
Basic Medical Sciences
Clinical Director,
Insight Vision Optometry, Las Vegas
Specialty Contact Lenses,
Myopia Management
Dr. Mendez will be the first to tell you that optometry never appeared on his childhood list of dream careers. At 20, he was perfectly content as an assistant manager at an auto parts store, with no particular thoughts about eyes one way or the other. A friend who worked at an optometry office needed an extra set of hands and kept insisting he come take a look. Reluctantly, and mostly to be polite, he did.
That single, low‑stakes favor rearranged the rest of his life. He walked into the clinic wearing no glasses and carrying no real opinions about optometry, and walked out captivated by how intricate and quietly remarkable the eye is. A job as an optometric technician followed, and what began as casual curiosity soon revealed itself as something closer to a calling: purposeful, a little unexpected, and exactly where he needed to be. He has been grateful for that stroke of luck ever since.
Ask Dr. Mendez what makes the work worthwhile, and he will not point to the technology or the titles. He will talk about the patients who arrive after years of specialty lenses that never quite fit right, who have grown resigned to distorted vision or discomfort they assumed was permanent.
Walking them through the fitting process and watching their world sharpen back into focus never gets old. He considers it one of the true privileges of the profession: a front‑row seat to someone getting their clarity, and often their confidence, back.
Dr. Mendez earned his Bachelor of Science in Basic Medical Sciences from Washington State University in 2013, then completed his Doctor of Optometry at the Illinois College of Optometry in 2017.
His introduction to eye care came earlier, and less formally. Before optometry school he worked as an optometric technician, the job a friend talked him into trying at 20, and it was that hands‑on time in the clinic that turned a passing curiosity into a career. He has since added a Nevada state certification for the co‑management of primary open‑angle glaucoma, which the state requires on top of standard licensure.
Dr. Mendez has built his practice around the cases other offices tend to shy away from: scleral, hybrid, and rigid gas permeable lenses for eyes that do not fit the standard mold, including keratoconus and other irregular corneas.
For younger patients whose prescriptions keep climbing, he offers myopia management through Ortho‑K, atropine, Stellest lenses, and MiSight soft contact lenses. As Clinical Director of Insight Vision Optometry, Las Vegas, he brings that same precision to how the practice runs, not just how each patient is seen.
Dr. Mendez holds a Nevada state certification for the co‑management of primary open‑angle glaucoma, a credential the state requires on top of standard licensure before an optometrist can co‑manage the condition.
He serves as Clinical Director of Insight Vision Optometry, Las Vegas, overseeing clinical standards across the practice's specialty contact lens and myopia management services.
Scleral, hybrid, and rigid gas permeable lens fitting for eyes that do not fit the standard mold, and myopia management for younger patients through Ortho‑K, atropine, Stellest lenses, and MiSight soft contact lenses.
Nevada state certification for the co‑management of primary open‑angle glaucoma (POAG), a credential the state requires on top of standard optometric licensure.
Clinical Director of Insight Vision Optometry, Las Vegas, responsible for clinical standards across the practice's specialty contact lens and myopia management services.
Away from the exam chair, Dr. Mendez is a devoted family man first. Time with his wife and their two young daughters, whether that means chasing them around a park or savoring an unhurried Saturday morning, sits at the center of everything else.
