Dr. Laura Chonko, O.D. joins Beyond 2020 Vision Specialists each winter, seeing patients at our Lakewood Ranch office inside Visionworks from January through April. She has been an optometrist since 1999 and brings a special interest in how nutrition and overall wellness affect the health of your eyes.
Dr. Chonko studied Biology at the University of Toledo and earned her Doctor of Optometry degree from The Ohio State University in 1999.
Her interest in nutrition and the prevention of eye disease led her to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where she earned a Holistic Health Coach certification in 2014. In 2015 she earned a fellowship from the Ocular Nutrition and Wellness Society, which required more than 150 hours of continuing education in nutrition, a case report or research paper, and an in-person oral examination at the annual Academy of Optometry meeting.
Dr. Chonko enjoys sharing what she knows about eye health and wellness and has given many health talks in her community.
She especially values a careful look at the retina, the back of the eye. “Many people say that the eye is the window to the soul. While that may be true, the eye is more accurately the window to the body,” Dr. Chonko says. “It’s the only place in the body we can non-invasively view blood vessels, and by looking in the eye, we can learn quite a bit about a person’s overall health.”
Outside the office, Dr. Chonko is a proud Ohio State Buckeyes fan, though she is happy to trade Ohio’s long winters for Florida sunshine. She calls herself our “snowbird doctor,” and we are excited to welcome her to the Beyond 2020 team.