Who would you trust with your vision? For many Valley-area patients, the answer is Dr. Raul Peña. By all accounts that trust is rightly given: “I’ve operated on thousands of people including several professional football players, my father, and my own children. I wouldn’t do anything to anyone I didn’t believe in myself.” This is Dr. Peña’s motto, and he uses it every day in his work as a leading ophthalmologist in the Rio Grande Valley.
Dr. Peña owns and operates Peña Eye Institute, a state-of-the-art ophthalmology clinic with offices in McAllen and Harlingen. He is also the official ophthalmologist of the Dallas Cowboys, and has operated on several of the players and their families. Dr. Peña performs IntraLASIK, the latest cataract surgery, glaucoma treatments, eye allergy testing, and much more. He has completed tens of thousands of successful eye surgeries, and shows no signs of slowing down. “I love what I do,” he says emphatically.
The Peña Eye Institute offers patients the latest, safest, and most effective eye care available today. One common procedure is IntraLASIK surgery, a blade-free vision correction procedure that often leaves patients with better than 20/20 vision. LASIK patients are easy to spot – they’re the ones gleefully chucking their eyeglasses and contact lenses into the office donation bin. Cataract patients also see dramatic results. Cataracts occur when the natural lens of the eye becomes cloudy, interfering with vision. Dr. Peña removes cataracts and actually replaces them with an intraocular lens implant like Crystalens®. The implants not only replace cloudy lenses with clear ones, but also integrate with the eye’s muscles to allow it to focus and flex. Many describe the result of this procedure as seeing the world for the first time.
Cataract surgery – and its miraculous results – are what drew Dr. Peña to ophthalmology in the first place. He was in medical school at the University of Monterrey when he first witnessed the wonder of sight being returned. An elderly man with severe cataracts had come to the medical school seeking help. The ophthalmology team cleared the old man’s clouded eyes while Dr. Peña looked on. For years, this man had depended on the help of his loved ones for even the smallest tasks. Now, his family couldn’t keep up with him. It was then that Dr. Peña knew what he wanted to do with his life.
After medical school, Dr. Peña completed a research fellowship in Baltimore, an internal medicine training program at the Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, TX, and an ophthalmology residency in Cincinnati. He brought this extensive training back to the Valley, which is his birthplace and his home. The Peña Eye Institute was founded soon after his return. Fifteen years later, with two branches and scores of loyal patients, the Eye Institute has become a pillar of the Rio Grande Valley’s medical scene.
For Dr. Peña, the Peña Eye Institute is much more than a medical care facility. It’s a place to give back to the community. Community is central to Dr. Peña. He and his family make giving back a priority. They throw the annual Dallas Cowboys Festival, support the local school systems, and serve on many public boards. Dr. Peña even regularly performs free operations on deserving patients. “To me and my family, giving back is the most important thing,” says Dr. Peña.
Dr. Raul Peña at the Peña Eye Institute is skilled, experienced, and community-oriented. He’s operated on NFL players from San Diego, Houston, and the Dallas Cowboys. When it comes to trusting someone with their vision, Valley-area patients choose Dr. Peña without batting an eye.
