How to Grow on LinkedIn as an Optometrist: Lessons from Dr. Christy Nguyen, a Top 1% Voice in Optometry Your Heading Text Here
Why a Top 1% Optometrist on LinkedIn Says She Hates Being on Camera — and What That Means for the Rest of Us
This works because it carries the contradiction that makes the whole episode interesting (top 1% / hates camera), it teases a payoff (“what that means for the rest of us”), and it naturally reinforces the LinkedIn + optometry keywords without keyword-stuffing.
A few alternatives depending on the tone you want to set:
Story-led, warmer opening:
Meet the Optometrist Patients Fly Across America to See — and Why She’s Quietly Winning LinkedIn
Practical and benefit-driven (great if the blog leans how-to):
What Every Optometrist and Dispensing Optician Can Learn from Dr. Christy Nguyen’s LinkedIn Strategy
Curiosity-led question (good for featured snippets and dwell time):
How Did a Camera-Shy Optometrist Build One of the Largest LinkedIn Followings in Eye Care?
Punchy and direct:
The LinkedIn Growth Lessons Most Optometrists Are Missing — Straight from a Top 1% Voice
Why a Top 1% Optometrist on LinkedIn Says She Hates Being on Camera — and What That Means for the Rest of Us
From the Exam Room to the LinkedIn Feed: How Dr. Christy Nguyen Built a Following Without Loving the Spotlight
This works because it bridges the two worlds the blog covers (clinical practice and social media), uses LinkedIn as a natural keyword, and the “without loving the spotlight” hook makes it relatable to the silent majority of optometrists and dispensing opticians who feel the same way.
A few more, depending on the angle:
Authority-led:
What 20+ Years in Optometry Taught Dr. Christy Nguyen About Building Trust — Online and In Person
Problem/solution framing:
Most Optometrists Stay Invisible on LinkedIn. Here’s What Dr. Christy Nguyen Does Differently
Story-driven and emotive:
The Prism, the Veteran, and the Two Hugs: Why Dr. Christy Nguyen Is the Optometrist We All Want to Learn From
Direct and benefit-led:
Three Things Every Optometrist and Dispensing Optician Can Steal from Dr. Christy Nguyen’s LinkedIn Playbook
Curiosity hook:
She Built a Top 1% LinkedIn Following in Optometry. Here’s the One Habit That Changed Everything
Inside the Mind of Dr. Christy Nguyen: The Clinical Skill, Patient Empathy, and LinkedIn Strategy Every Optician Should Know about AI and social media for Opticians
Innovation, AI, and the future of optometry
The conversation closes on where optometry and the optical industry are heading. Topics include:
- AI scribe technology in optometry EHRs (Christy uses Bardi: “Once I hit that record button, it’s recording whatever I speak to it and it just documents it in for me”) — a game-changer for solo doctors with no tech support.
- AI-powered retinal imaging and how reading retinal images feeds the next generation of clinical AI.
- Cardiovascular risk detection through fundus photography (Dr. Noon technology), where the eye becomes a window onto heart disease through arterial and nerve analysis.
- Red light therapy for dry AMD — emerging mitochondrial treatments, and the importance of using the correct wavelength, not consumer skincare red light. Christy’s cautious, evidence-led perspective is exactly what optometry needs: “We have to be really careful with that because there are red lights that can be used for skincare and things like that — wrong frequency. You need it to be at just the right frequency.”
- AI-driven refraction at a Munich trade show that Garry hated and Christy doesn’t believe will go far. “I’ve seen some of those virtual AI visits, and it wasn’t very good.”
- Colour vision deficiency (the correct term, as Christy points out — “it should be colour deficiency because you’re not truly colourblind”) and the new generation of colour-correcting lenses. Garry’s personal story of his late grandfather, a tailor who asked his wife the colour of every thread, lands quietly and hard.
- Myopia management and dry eye disease as the two clinical areas Christy expects to keep growing in the US optical market.
Christy’s closing call to colleagues: “Many of our older generation doctors are kind of shunning [AI] because they don’t understand it… our tools are there to work together to make us more efficient so we have more time to just talk to patients
The best quotes from the podcast
Best optics / Optom quotes
. “I like to connect the aesthetic part of eye care with the health part — and make it fun.”
2. “I grew up wearing glasses and contact lenses, so I understand the struggle of not being able to see clearly.”
3. “Being able to give that gift back to other people — that’s what drives me.”
4. “A lot of the time, patients just want to vent. Once they feel heard, they calm down.”
5. “Let’s start from scratch and see what actually works for you.”
6. “If you don’t tell patients what to expect, that’s where the problem starts.”
7. “As a user yourself, you understand the patient’s pain points.”
8. “When the doctor and the optical team communicate properly, everybody wins.”
9. “I never try to make people feel dumb. I’d rather show them, teach them and help them understand.”
10. “When every patient sits in the chair, I think: what if this was me?”
11. “The goal is not just to prescribe. The goal is to make the patient feel heard.”
12. “LinkedIn gave me a professional place where I could simply say what I needed to say.”
13. “I had to learn to put myself out there.”
14. “I don’t like staying negative for very long — it doesn’t feel good.”
15. “Sometimes the brain is willing to learn something new.”
16. “Be yourself. Be authentic. Be true to yourself — and try to help others along the way.”
My strongest three for graphics would be:
“The goal is not just to prescribe. The goal is to make the patient feel heard.”
“I like to connect the aesthetic part of eye care with the health part — and make it fun.”
“Be yourself. Be authentic. Be true to yourself — and try to help others along the way.”
About the Authors
About the Authors
Dr. Kristie Nguyen is a licensed optometrist with over 20 years of clinical experience, practising in Winter Park, Florida. She holds a leased practice inside CY Eyewear and is recognised as one of the top 1% of optometrists on LinkedIn, where she has built one of the largest and most engaged followings in the optical industry. Her clinical interests include myopia management, dry eye disease, prism prescribing, RGP contact lens fitting, and paediatric and special needs eye care — the latter shaped by more than seven years working with the Florida Health Department and her ongoing volunteer work with Special Olympics.
Beyond the clinic, Christy is a sought-after voice in optical industry social media. She partners with eyewear brands, models frames, and uses her platform to educate the public on eye care while championing the profession to fellow optometrists and dispensing opticians worldwide. Her approach — clinical depth, patient-first empathy, and consistent, authentic online presence — has made her one of the most followed and most respected optometrists on LinkedIn today.
Garry Kousoulou FBDO is a dispensing optician with more than 36 years in the optical industry and the host of The Optician Show — Optical Business & Marketing Podcast. In 2004, Garry became the first optician in the world to launch a Facebook page for an optical practice, a case study later recognised by Meta. He is the founder of Loving Social Media, a digital marketing agency working exclusively with optical practices and healthcare brands, Good Looking Optics in Enfield, London, and ColourOn UK, the sole distributor of colour vision enhancement lenses across England, Ireland, Cyprus, and Greece.
Garry is a long-standing BNI Vision member, a judge at the Business Book Awards, founder of the Enfield Business and Community Awards, and a frequent speaker on optical practice marketing, patient experience, and social media strategy for opticians.
Together, Christy and Garry represent two sides of the same conversation: a US-based optometrist and a UK-based dispensing optician, both clinicians first, both early movers in social media for the optical industry, and both committed to helping fellow optical professionals find their voice online.
If you take one thing from this episode, let it be this: you don’t need to love being on camera, and you don’t need a marketing degree. You need to show up, engage generously, and care about the people you serve. The rest follows.
🎧 Listen to the full episode of The Optician Show with Dr. Christy Nguyen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We really are very lucky to have Christine in our industry and in optics! She’s a ray of sunshine and positivity, and I’m sure loved by her patients.