David G. O’Day, M.D.

Biography

Dr. David O’Day is a highly trained and experienced corneal and refractive surgeon, with expertise in the most advanced techniques of corneal and vision correction surgeries.  A native of Atlanta, Georgia, he has traveled far to receive a well-rounded education and the highest quality professional training obtainable.  He has applied this training since 1993 in both academic and private ophthalmologic practice settings, with subspecialty focus on corneal and refractive surgery. 

Dr. O’Day completed his undergraduate studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry.  He went on to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. for graduate and professional studies, first completing a Masters of Science in Physiology and then a Doctorate in Medicine.  While in medical school, Dr. O’Day was awarded a Naval Health Professions Scholarship.  In return, he accepted an obligation to serve for four years on active duty in the United States Navy as a physician. His military medical training and experience was, in a word, diverse.  For internship training, Dr. O’Day was awarded a sought-after position in Internal Medicine at the U.S. Naval Hospital, San Diego.  Following the one-year internship, he served three years as a General Medical Officer, first in the Emergency Room at the Naval Hospital in Okinawa, Japan for one year, and then at the Naval Hospital and Branch Clinics, San Diego for his final two years. Aside from his duties at these facilities, Dr. O’Day regularly deployed in the field for training as the Medical Officer for his Marine Unit, and stood ready to deploy overseas at any time should the need arise. 

Upon leaving the active duty military, Dr. O’Day received his residency and fellowship training from two of the finest programs in the country. He completed an ophthalmology residency in Atlanta, Georgia at Emory University School of Medicine in the Department of Ophthalmology, a residency program that has consistently been ranked amongst the top ten in the country. Dr. O’Day was then awarded highly competitive fellowships for further training in cornea and external diseases at the University of Minnesota, and in refractive surgery at the Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He completed his training in 1993, and was certified a Diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology in 1994.

Dr. O’Day has since been in professional practice as an ophthalmologist.  From 1993 to 1996, he served as the Director of the Refractive Surgery Service at University Hospitals of Cleveland, and was appointed as an Assistant Professor on the full-time academic cornea faculty in the Department of Ophthalmology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. O’Day has been in a subspecialty referral-only cornea and refractive surgery private practice in Charleston, South Carolina since 1996. In January 2000, Dr. O’Day founded Charleston Cornea & Refractive Surgery, P.A., his own subspecialty cornea and refractive surgery ophthalmology practice, which continues today.  In addition, he served as Medical Director of the Lasik Vision Institute in Atlanta, Georgia from June 2000 to 2005.  Aside from his labors in full-time private practice, he has served as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the Medical University of South Carolina and a principal investigator in numerous extramural grant studies.  A sought-after teacher, researcher and lecturer, Dr. O’Day has been featured on television programs, in university seminars and in medical journals.

Throughout his professional career, Dr. O’ Day has been heavily involved with the Eye Bank Association of America, serving on various committees including the International Relations, Technicians, Policy and Position Research, and Research Committees. In addition, he has been a member of the Medical Advisory Board, and has acted for six years as a Site Inspector for Eye Bank Association of America as a member of the Accreditation Board.  This function requires travel to eye banks across the country twice a year for daylong inspections.  He served a Co-Medical Director of the South Carolina Lions Eye Bank for four years.

Dr. O’Day has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology since 1993.  He is active in several societies including the American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery, the International Society of Refractive Surgery/AAO, the Midwest Cornea Society, and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. For two years, Dr. O’Day served as an At-Large Delegate to the South Carolina Medical Association.  He is featured in the Millennium 2000 edition of Who’s Who in America, and has been accepted to Who’s Who as a Lifetime Member for his accomplishments. In 2006, he was named as one of America’s Top Ophthalmologists.

In limiting his practice to the areas of his subspecialty expertise, Dr. O'Day has emphasized the specialized medical and surgical treatment of corneal, external ocular and inflammatory diseases of the eye as well as naturally-occurring and secondary refractive disorders.  He has devoted many years of study and training to develop the clinical skills and expertise to perform all variations of corneal transplantation, cataract surgery, and other complicated anterior segment surgeries, and diagnose and manage corneal and anterior segment eye diseases.  He has used this training and experience to become a comprehensive corneal-refractive surgeon, with expertise in incisional, laser, and lamellar corneal refractive surgery procedures, including LASIK, LASEK, Epi-K, PRK, and PTK. He is one of the pioneers of incisional refractive surgery, including RK and AK, and lamellar surgery including ALK.  He has dedicated his practice to the correction of all refractive errors. Of late, he has become involved in the move towards lens-based vision correction surgery, and now performs many lens-based procedures for the correction of refractive errors, including phakic IOL implantation, refractive lens exchange, and cataract surgery with presbyopic, toric, and aspheric IOL implantation for best uncorrected vision at all distances.

Dr. O’Day is devoted to the highest quality medical and surgical eye care of his patients.  He has performed thousands of complicated microsurgical procedures to restore eyesight and correct potentially blinding problems.    His corneal/refractive fellowship training and extensive experience has served him well in performing refractive surgery, where superior clinical outcomes and low complication rates are the norm for him.  In successfully performing over 45,000 corneal refractive procedures, Dr. O’Day has proven that it is his reputation, experience and training credentials that set him apart from the field.