Book with Woonona Eyecare

Brian has experience in paediatric optometry and loves to see children from all ages and backgrounds. Being a father himself, he’s committed to seeing children have the best start to their formative years by ensuring clear and comfortable vision. Brian has particular interest in the fitting of specialty contact lenses and the field of myopia control. He specialises in designing and fitting OrthoK lenses and is a member of the Orthokeratology Society of Oceania (OSO). This also extends to using contact lenses as a lifestyle enhancing optical solution and in particular eye conditions such as keratoconus. Being a therapeutically endorsed optometrist, Brian can prescribe eye drops to manage a wide range of ocular conditions including eye infections, foreign bodies and glaucoma.

Emily loves working with children and is passionate about providing children the best start to their education, with a special interest in understanding how their visual system is functioning. Emily also has a thorough understanding of how dry eye affects people’s lifestyle and aims to provide management options to improve people’s eye comfort, including performing IPL (Intense Pulsed Light). She is a therapeutically endorsed optometrist, allowing her to prescribe topical medications to manage a wide variety of ocular health conditions, including eye infections, dry eye and glaucoma.

Renee Bridges completed a six month placement with Woonona Eyecare in 2014 during this time Renee impressed not only us, but our patients so much that our senior Optometrist Dirk Den Dulk offered Renee a position on completion of her studies. Renee is a Wollongong local, and completed a degree in Biotechnology with Honours at the University of Wollongong. Having completed her degree Renee then went on to work for the Garvan Institute in the area of pancreatic cancer research. While a very important and rewarding career Renee always had a desire to pursue further studies. Renee applied for and was accepted in to a Bachelor of Vision Science at Deakin University in 2011 and then went on to complete her Masters of Optometry in 2015. Renee’s passion for Optometry is evident, with a special interest in primary eyecare (The diagnosis of ocular conditions), soft contact lenses, Orthokeratology, and children’s vision. When asked why Renee chose optometry, Renee said “Optometry is a dynamic and challenging profession, and there is nothing more rewarding than making a difference to people’s vision”

Our optometrist, Dirk den Dulk, would simply love to help you with your eye care needs. He once commented that “there isn’t just one thing I like about optometry, I simply love everything about it.” He decided that optometry was for him at the tender young age of 13, when he got his first set of glasses. He then went on to earn a Bachelor of Optometry and Graduate Certificate in Ocular Therapeutics from the University of NSW, and has been practicing in the field of eye care for over 30 years in Wollongong. He set up the Woonona practice in 1982. Dirk is a general practitioner specialising in Behavioural Optometry (children’s vision) and Primary Eye Care (diagnosis of eye diseases and treatment of inflammatory ocular conditions). He recognises the importance of technology and having the latest state-of-the-art equipment available to diagnose and treat eye disease, including: Ocular Coherence Tomography, for optic nerve and macula scanning. Visual Fields Analysis, to determine optic nerve damage through diseases such as glaucoma. Macula Pigment Density scanner, for diagnosis of macula disease. Dirk has seen many changes in the industry over the years. According to him, some of the greatest advancements have been in the area of technology with the advent of sophisticated diagnostic equipment. Another change has included optometric endorsement of ocular therapeutic drug treatment. The field is growing all the time, and Dirk continues to keep up with all the latest information, research, technology and treatments. Dirk feels privileged to practice a profession that he is so passionate about. When it comes to trusting someone to help you to look after something as important as your sight, few can match his experience, dedication and skill in the area of eye care.