Sacramento Eye Consultants started when two academic-based ophthalmologists decided to set up a unique eye specialty practice in Sacramento. Dr. Richard Grutzmacher, who was Director of Cornea at the University of Washington in Seattle, wanted to move back to Northern California. Dr Richard Lewis, who as Director of Glaucoma at University of California, Davis, saw an unmet opportunity in private practice in Sacramento. The administrators at Mercy General on J Street wanted to establish an Eye Center based in their new outpatient surgery center. These forces were all in play in the spring of 1988. When the opportunity to join forces to reduce overhead, Drs Grutzmacher and Lewis, though they had never met, decided to “move in together” and, thus, created the referral ophthalmic practice, Grutzmacher and Lewis in October 1988 with the goal of providing outstanding specialty care for patients with corneal, glaucoma and cataract related problems.


Over the years, the practice Grutzmacher and Lewis thrived. Ophthalmology was in the midst of remarkable innovation. We were the first to offer LASIK surgery in Northern California following FDA approval in 1999. Innovations in cataract and glaucoma surgery were underway and Dr Lewis developed a Clinical Research team to participate in these studies. Over the years, we have participated in more than 100 studies and are actively recruiting for studies at this time. Between his clinical research and participation with ophthalmic industry, Dr Lewis became a national authority on glaucoma and was selected as President of the American Glaucoma Society 2000-2 then President of American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in 2014-15.
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