This is how Deeba Chaudri, an optometrist who lives in Brooklyn Heights, knows when the economy is doing well: people buy colored contact lenses along with their regular prescription; they come in for routine appointments by choice, and not just when they urgently need new glasses.
Right now, from Chaudri’s perspective, the economy does not seem to be doing very well.
Three months ago, Chaudri, who has been in practice for 15 years, started her own business, Cosmopolitan Optometry, at 542 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan, and she’s noticed that people have not been vigilant about eye care.
“That’s unfortunate, because we’re seeing a lot of health diseases, eye diseases, that are undiagnosed because there’s no symptoms when it comes to the eyes other than they can’t see,” she says.
Many of her customers and patients are tourists, she says, “because an eye exam is cheaper here. Contacts are cheaper here than, say, in Brazil or Europe. But people who live in New York can’t afford it.”
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