Face Time: Dennis Cheng

Dr. Dennis Cheng is the owner and lead optomotrist of DC Optics, located at 390 Myrtle Avenue.

When Dr. Cheng decided to open his clinic three years ago in Fort Greene, some of his closest confidents, including his wife, questioned why.

Why would he would choose a Brooklyn address over Manhattan, when Manhattan's foot traffic without question could mean faster growth for his business.

But Dr Cheng wanted to try something different. Instead of working to maximize his customer base, what if he focused on minimization and total customer care?

What if he made his practice a fun place for people of all ages, where his clients became interested in learning about eye care, always looked forward to coming and never, ever felt rushed?

"We only schedule one patient every hour," said Dr. Cheng. "There's never like five, six, seven people waiting here. You're here for an hour and I'm devoting my time to you."

"In other offices, the patients will tell you that they only spend 5-10 minutes with their eye doctor. But for us, 5-10 minutes is just chit-chatting, just finding how things have been going at work," laughs Dr. Cheng. "That's 5-10 minutes right there.

"If you think about other aspects of your life, like, if you have a friend who's a mechanic or a friend who owns a restaurant, you feel pretty sure they're going to take good care of you, right?.

"So I felt, why can't people feel that way when they go to see the eye doctor? My mission is to make patients feel like they're being examined by a close friend."

And that's what his office feels like, your cool friend Dennis's place, and oh by the way, he can examine your eyes for you...

Even the online chatter on Dr. Cheng's DC Optics Facebook Page shows a lively, family-like environment, with Dr. Cheng sharing fun facts about eye care and folks occassionally swapping cute pet photos.

"I just think if I was in Manhattan, people would be screaming at me to hurry up because I'm taking too long," said Dr. Cheng laughing.

"But here in Brooklyn, everyone kind of knows each other; it's kind of like a suburban neighborhood feel.

"This was my vision for exactly how I wanted my office to be. And I don't think I could have pulled this off in Manhattan."