Hello Northern Ontario!
My name is Shawn Lessard and I am excited to provide Northern Ontario with access to much needed specialty contact lenses for the management of ocular disease, myopia management and lifestyle concerns!
My Story
Born and raised in Northern Ontario, I completed my high school education in Timmins before studying Biochemistry at Laurentian University in Sudbury. Once completing my honors degree, I studied Opticianry and contact lens fitting at Georgian College in Barrie.
During the early years of my career as an Optician I had the unique opportunity to study corneal disease management in Ottawa Ontario at the Canadian National Eye Institute. During this time, I trained and worked alongside some of our countries brightest and most recognized corneal specialist and surgeons. Over nearly a decade, I was able to gain specialized skills and knowledge in managing Keratoconus and other ocular surface diseases through surgical intervention as well as specialty contact lenses.
In 2015, I even had the opportunity to spend a year on the Northern Ontario Mobile Medical Eye-care unit (CNIB Eyevan) where we travelled to more than 30 remote communities providing primary eyecare to those who do not have typical access to specialized health care.
Since returning to Sudbury with my family in 2017, I have been committed to providing residents of Northern Ontario the same high quality specialty eyecare that is found in larger Canadian cities. To date, I am the only practitioner in the area who specializes in fitting scleral lenses for the management of corneal diseases, as well as Orthokeratology for myopia control and management.
Providing patients suffering from ocular disease the best possible vision and comfort has been my career's passion; and contact lenses have been the vehicle I've used to make this passion a reality. My goal is to ensure that no resident in our area has to unnecessarily suffer from poor vision; especially when there are often very simple solutions to the ailments.