Tran Vision Center

After 30 years of being in practice, Dr. Paul K. Tran of Tran Vision Center believes that he now understands what is needed to achieve the pinnacle of patient care. The mission was and will always be to ensure that everyone who steps foot into the office would receive the level of eye care comparable to what his close relatives would receive. That philosophy has been, Tran declares, the secret sauce to the office’s long success.

This is Dr. Tran’s sixth win for the 2022 Readers' Choice Award for Best Optometrist. His office is also the recipient of the Best Optical Award, Best Locally Owned Business Award, and Best Place to Work Award. Despite having garnered multiple awards, Tran confesses that every single win is gratifying, humbling, and genuinely special because it provides strong affirmation that what he and his staff had formulated years ago is still working today.

Tran attributes his motivation to succeed at the highest level to his background and upbringing. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Tran and his family fled the war-torn country in 1975 in search of a better life. The US provided shelter for them in Florida, where he completed the majority of his education, including obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology at the University of Florida. He acknowledged that optometry always had his interest because he was "not gifted with good vision".

"I wanted to go into a field where I could figure out ways to help and protect my vision as well as all those afflicted with similar ocular disabilities," he said.

Tran admitted that it was "particularly challenging given my limited financial resources, but I was unwavering in my commitment." In 1992, he earned his Doctor of Optometry degree at Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee.

"My first job offer took me down to McAllen. Immediately, I developed a strong connection to the Hispanic community and their cultures. They are humble, respectful and very family oriented – all of the principles that I grew up on. When I was ready to practice solo, I wanted to work with the same demographics. Laredo, with only a handful of eye doctors at the time, just happened to fit the profile so my decision to settle here was almost a no-brainer," Tran stated. In 1993, he established Tran Vision Center on Calton Road. "We started very conservative and cramped in an office that was barely 300 sq. ft. in size.

Today, it is with pride that we have grown into a nearly 5000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art eye care facility," he beams. The office also has taken on a new associate optometrist, Dr. Kassandra N. Peña. "Dr. Peña has been an ideal fit to our office. Her patient care doctrine is very similar to that of my own. It is not uncommon for patients to gush that she's the best eye doctor that they've ever seen. I suppose I could be envious of these comments, but I am more than happy, if not proud, to have someone to carry the torch of excellence for Team TVC whenever I'm out of the office." Tran proclaimed.

Tran Vision Center is a complete eye care facility that offers a wide variety of eye services and optical goods ranging from comprehensive eye exam, ocular irritation or infection treatment to glaucoma management and selecting new glasses or specialty contact lens fitting. Common diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, thyroid, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis can be uncovered in a routine eye exam at our office. Even more serious, if not life-threatening, conditions like aneurysm, brain tumor, and stroke can also be discovered during an ocular health evaluation. To know that as an eye doctor, I am able to save not just someone's eyesight, but also potentially someone's life by early detection of a serious underlying medical condition is what make my profession so personally rewarding.