September 1, 2026
We are excited to welcome Dr. Stephanie Hwang, OD, MPH, to Insight Vision Optometry, Costa Mesa and Irvine. Dr. Hwang is a pediatric and vision therapy optometrist whose day-to-day work centers on the kind of care our Costa Mesa flagship is known for: vision therapy, neuro-optometric rehabilitation, binocular vision dysfunction, myopia management, and pediatric eye care, alongside everyday primary eye care.
Back home in California after a decade away, she joins our Costa Mesa team, led by co-founders Dr. Thanh Mai, OD, FSLS, and Dr. Valerie Lam, OD, FAAO, FOVDR, and brings residency-level training in exactly the developmental and rehabilitative cases families across Orange County travel to us for. For our patients, that means more access to advanced vision therapy care from a doctor who has spent her whole career on the visual skills behind reading, learning, and recovery, and who is genuinely glad to be back home serving her community.
Residency-Trained
Pacific University, 2021
COVD Award
Excellence in Vision Therapy
Clinical Focus
Vision Therapy & Pediatrics
Now Seeing Patients
Costa Mesa & Irvine
Dr. Hwang is a residency-trained optometrist with a focus on pediatric eye care and vision therapy. She joins Insight Vision Optometry, Costa Mesa after completing advanced training at Pacific University, and her clinical interests line up closely with our developmental and rehabilitative roster in vision therapy, neuro-optometric rehabilitation, binocular vision dysfunction, and myopia management.
Dr. Hwang earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Riverside in 2011, then completed a dual Doctor of Optometry and Master of Public Health degree at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2020. She went on to complete a Residency in Pediatrics and Vision Therapy at Pacific University in 2021, the year of focused, advanced clinical training that prepares an optometrist for the most challenging developmental and binocular vision cases. The public health half of her dual degree is not incidental either. It shapes how she thinks about access, about which children fall through the cracks, and about care that has to work for real families.
Dr. Hwang’s clinical focus includes:
Dr. Hwang built a strong record in developmental and rehabilitative vision care during her training. Her interest in pediatrics led her to IN-SIGHT Vision Rehabilitation in Warwick, Rhode Island, where she provided care for children navigating significant visual impairment, low vision, and legal blindness. She continued that training at Pauline Buck Behavioral Developmental Neuro-Rehabilitation Vision Therapy in Miami, Florida, taking part in Special Olympics programming and working closely with the neurodivergent community. That work earned her the College of Optometrists in Vision Development Student of Excellence in Vision Therapy Award.
She carries the same commitment into everyday practice, where accessible care is not an add-on but the point. She welcomes neurodivergent patients, children with cortical visual impairment or cerebral palsy, and non-speaking patients who communicate through AAC devices. Families who have been told their child is too young, too active, or too difficult to examine are exactly the families she trained to serve.
For children whose eyes do not work together as a coordinated team, the right care is the difference between a daily struggle with the page and a school year that finally clicks. Dr. Hwang’s training centers on exactly these cases. Conditions where her work most often helps include:
Vision therapy, a structured program of exercises and lenses that builds visual skills over time, is one of the most powerful tools for these patients. It works much the way physical therapy builds strength and coordination, training the eyes to team, track, and focus together rather than simply sharpening a prescription. Dr. Hwang’s residency and clinical training were built around this kind of care. It fits naturally alongside the vision therapy and pediatric care Dr. Lam has built at the heart of our Costa Mesa practice, and her arrival means more access to that care for the families who seek it out.
Dr. Hwang also works with patients on neuro-optometric rehabilitation, the care that addresses vision after the brain has been injured. A brain injury, stroke, or concussion can leave someone seeing double, losing their place, struggling with balance, or unable to tolerate busy visual environments, even when the eyes themselves are healthy. Prism lenses and targeted therapy can help the visual system reorganize, and this is the work that drew her into optometry in the first place.
Myopia management is the other thread running through her everyday practice. She works with children and teens using evidence-based strategies designed to slow the progression of nearsightedness rather than simply updating prescriptions year after year. Slowing myopia in childhood is about more than thinner glasses later. It is tied to lower long-term risk of eye health complications, which makes early, proactive care so worthwhile.
Ask Dr. Hwang why she chose optometry, and the answer goes back to a single afternoon of shadowing during undergrad. She watched a doctor use prism lenses and targeted exercises to help stroke and brain-injury patients recover visual function they had assumed was gone for good. She had always thought optometry began and ended with glasses and contacts. Watching that transformation up close convinced her otherwise, and she knew almost immediately she wanted to do work that changed lives the same way. Pediatrics and vision therapy turned out to be exactly where that instinct led her.
She is quick to point out that the change she gets to witness is rarely about the eye chart. One pattern stays with her: the bright young patient who arrives too shy to make eye contact, and who months later walks in taller, book in hand, wanting to share a fun fact picked up at school that morning. As Dr. Hwang puts it:
“To watch a child come out of their shell through vision therapy, to see their personality shine and their confidence grow, is so rewarding. It is emotional to be part of that change. I will never get sick of it.”
After a decade away, Dr. Hwang is thrilled to be back in California near her family, and above all near her seven nieces and nephews, who range in age from four to twenty-one. She calls being an aunt the greatest joy in her life. A self-described classic middle child, with an older sister and a younger brother, she met her husband during her residency in Oregon. He is a San Francisco native, which keeps a running, good-natured NorCal versus SoCal debate alive at home, though given where they have settled she considers the matter fairly well decided.
Mornings usually start with a Lagree class, and the rest of her time off is shared with Phoebe, her five-year-old goldendoodle, who follows her everywhere like a very furry shadow. She and her husband travel whenever they can, with Japan and Australia topping the list, and she is a committed foodie, always chasing down a new restaurant or the latest boba spot. She is happy to share her local favorites too, from the pastrami dip at The Hat to Blue Bowl, Sugarfish, and HeyTea. She will also admit to one contradiction she has made peace with: she loves penguins and cannot stand birds, a position the emu at the Sydney Zoo did nothing to soften. That same warmth and approachability is what patients can expect when they meet her in the exam room.
We could not be more pleased to welcome Dr. Stephanie Hwang, OD, MPH, to Insight Vision Optometry, Costa Mesa and Irvine. Whether you are looking for routine eye care, a children’s eye exam, a binocular vision evaluation, a vision therapy program, neuro-optometric rehabilitation after a brain injury or concussion, or myopia management for your child, she is ready to help.
To schedule an appointment, call us or book online. We look forward to introducing you to Dr. Hwang and helping you see clearly and comfortably.
Call (714) 486-3315 or book online.
