98103 · Wallingford
Seattle · Wallingford
2501 N 45th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
- Mon–Fri8:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Saturday8:00 AM – 3:00 PM
The original 1978 office. Three blocks west of I-5.
Puget Sound Eye Care
Family practice.
Family-led.
A Carlson-family optometry practice in Seattle and Bellevue. Two offices. Six active doctors. Since 1978.
Family practice.
Family-led.
Founded by Dr. Melvin Carlson, MD in 1978. Led today by his son, Dr. Matt Carlson, OD, alongside five associate optometrists across Seattle and Bellevue.
Meet the doctors
Six doctors. One chair, scheduled for you.
Each subspecialty trained: pediatric binocular vision, scleral lens, cornea disease, dry eye, ocular therapeutics, myopia control. The front desk routes you to the right one.
What brings you in?
Pick the closest description — we'll route you to the right doctor and the right kind of visit.
“My child needs a first exam.”
Pediatric & Binocular Vision →
“My child is getting more nearsighted every year.”
Myopia Control Program →
“I have dry, red, or burning eyes.”
Dry Eye Disease →
“I need a comprehensive eye exam.”
Comprehensive Eye Exams →
“Standard contacts don't work for my eyes.”
Scleral & Specialty Contact Lenses →
“I have glaucoma, diabetes, or macular concerns.”
Ocular Disease Management →
Three commitments
Forty-seven years, three things we hold to.
- I.
Time over throughput.
30–60 minute exams. Complex cases booked longer.
- II.
The right doctor, routed.
Tell us what you need — we match you to the optometrist who handles it most often.
- III.
Two generations on N 45th.
Founded 1978. Father to son. Same chair.
Myopia Control Program
Four ways to slow it.
Childhood myopia is progressive. The earlier it starts, the higher the final prescription — and the higher the lifetime risk of retinal detachment, glaucoma, and myopic maculopathy. Started early, the right modality can slow progression by 50–80% in many children.
About the program →Stellest
FDA-cleared
Essilor spectacle lens, ages 6–12.
Ortho-K
FDA-approved
Overnight rigid contact lens.
Atropine
Off-label · compounded
Low-dose nighttime drops.
Multifocal
Off-label · daily
Soft contact lens with peripheral defocus.
The doctors actually listen. Twenty years in, Dr. Carlson still remembers details from a single visit.
The two offices
Same doctors. Two neighborhoods.
98006 · Eastgate / Factoria
Bellevue · Eastgate / Factoria
12402 SE 38th Street, Suite 203
Bellevue, WA 98006
- Mon–Thu9:00 AM – 5:30 PM
- Friday8:00 AM – 4:30 PM
- SaturdayBy appointment
Eastside office in Factoria Square — five minutes off I-90.
The Founder · Emeritus
Family practice.
Family-led, since 1978.
Dr. Melvin Carlson trained at the University of Washington School of Medicine, completed his ophthalmology fellowship at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA, and a pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus fellowship under Dr. Arthur Jampolsky at the Smith-Kettlewell Institute of Visual Science in San Francisco. He has been recognized repeatedly by Best Doctors in America and Seattle Magazine as one of the region's best ophthalmologists, as determined by his medical peers.
UW School of Medicine · Jules Stein · Smith-Kettlewell
Read his record →Archive · circa 1978
Founder · Emeritus