Our mission at Downes Opticians
Our passion for providing comprehensive eye examinations teamed with our state of the art equipment allows us to fully explore the eye’s health as well as detect any ocular prescriptive issues.
We believe in giving back to the community. Leith has a strong community spirit and we are pleased to be a part of that, as an independent local optician.
Comprehensive Eye Exams
Complete Optical Services
Contact Lens Examination
Urgent Care
Meet our team
Clare Downes
Optometrist/Owner
Downes Opticians is Clare’s first ‘baby’! Building the Practice from scratch since 2008. The Practice’s strong moral and ethical values come from Clare’s mantra to “treat everyone as if they were a member of your family.”
Donna Millar
Practice Manager
Donna is a hug personified. Her unique ability to make everyone feel at ease cannot be learned. She also has an amazing eye for frame selection which keeps us ‘bang on trend’ season after season.
Catriona Hastie
Optometrist
Catriona is our resident clever clogs, not only has she furthered her qualifications to become an Independent Prescribing Optometrist (she can write prescriptions for eye medications) she has returned to Edinburgh University to study Medicine to fufill her dream to become an Ophthalmologist. We love that we are able to support her whilst striving for her dreams.
Dr Helen Court
Optometrist
Another genius in our team – Helen has a PhD in Optometry and Visual Sciences. She keeps us at the forefront of all things ‘optical’ as she is also a senior Optometry tutor.
Kate Bajnar
Optical assistant
Kate has worked at the Practice since the day it opened in 2008, she literally is in with the bricks and mortar. Now this girl knows her fashion and she certainly has flare.
Ashley McCulloch
Optical Assistant
This year Ashley has started studying for her Diploma for Optical Assistants, building on her already amazing knowledge and wonderful people skills.
Aga Wilkolaska
Optical Assistant
Aga has worked in Optics for 6 years, this girl knows everything there is about spectacle lenses, our very own lens encyclopaedia.
Aga Perkins
Optical Assistant
Aga’s beauty background is invaluable in our ethos that there is a perfect frame for everyone, allowing us to help you choose frames that accentuate your best features. Her bubbly personality fits in perfectly with the Downes team.