Dec 5, 2018 5 min read

When Dr. E. Ronald Salvitti founded the Southwestern Pennsylvania Eye Center in 1973 after completing his ophthalmology residency at the University of Pittsburgh, he founded what would become the most well-known ophthalmology practice and surgery center in the region. The current office, located on East Beau Street in Washington, has been in operation since 1986, with the surgery center added in 1988.

In that time, not only has the business built trust in the community by staying on top of cutting-edge technologies and procedures, but Dr. Salvitti’s daughter, Dr. Jennifer Salvitti Davis has joined the practice as well. She specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases and performs cataract, refractive and laser surgical procedures. Her bachelor’s degree is in molecular biology from Vanderbilt University and her medical degree is from Temple University. She completed her ophthalmology residency at the Eye and Ear Institute – University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and has been at Southwestern Pennsylvania Eye Center since 2004.

“We have been fortunate to be able to grow our practice every year by staying at the forefront of our specialty,” Dr. Davis said. “Because of our success, we have been able to invest in the latest technologies that have a direct link to favorable patient outcomes. At the end of the day, our focus is on the patients – that is the premise on which my father began the business, and that is our unwavering commitment to our patients today.”

The practice currently has six full or part time ophthalmologists in various specialties – including general ophthalmology, cornea, retina, oculoplastics, and neurophthalmology – and four full or part time optometrists. In addition to the Washington office and surgical center, Southwestern Pennsylvania Eye Center has an office in Waynesburg, as well. “Our office in Waynesburg provides a convenient location to see local patients, and when necessary, we can schedule them for surgery or additional procedures in our Washington office,” Dr. Davis said.

Dr. Sean F. Pieramici, MD, who joined the practice in 2010, is one of those ophthalmologists. Dr. Pieramici earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2000. He completed his residency at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., in 2004, and was asked back in 2005 to serve as chief resident. He specializes in the treatment of corneal diseases and refractive surgery, and was also a clinical investigator in a LASIK FDA study.

The approach to patient care is simple: “We provide comprehensive eye care at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Eye Center,” Dr. Davis said. “We focus first and foremost on patient care and excellent outcomes.”

They’re able to continuously provide those excellent outcomes by providing the latest technologies. “We have continuously invested in the latest technologies and our patients benefit from that. In more recent years, the introduction of premium intraocular lenses, laser cataract surgery (LenSx), and advanced retinal procedures have helped drive patient interest in our practice,” Dr. Davis said.

In addition, Southwestern Pennsylvania Eye Center jumped on ORA technology, which is Optiwave Refractive Analysis.

“That’s a device in the operating room that uses wavefront guidance to help us measure the cataract after the initial incision is made. It adds to the precision of the surgery by helping us select the best lens implant. Not only do we use the measurements before surgery – when patients are having laser or advanced technology procedures, we tend to do multiple measurements before surgery -but we also take another measurement at the time of surgery, all just adding to the advanced precision of the procedure,” Dr. Davis said. “So, that’s actually been a huge benefit because we’ve had a lot of patients who have had LASIK or other procedures in the past and that changes the curvature of the cornea and affects the measurements we get in the office. That makes it harder to be very accurate with which implant we select. This helps us a lot because it’s very customized to the patient. So, we’re able to more properly and more accurately select the implant, especially in those patients.”

Other services available at Southwestern Pennsylvania Eye Center include laser vision correction/LASIK, treatment of retina/macular degeneration, functional and cosmetic eyelid surgery, treatment of corneal disease and glaucoma, as well as minimally-invasive facial aesthetics treatments including Botox, Dysport, Restylane, Perlane and Juvederm.

While Southwestern Pennsylvania Eye Center has been providing the highest quality care to its patients over the years, it’s also been focused on supporting community and philanthropic endeavors. The Salvitti Family Foundation, which is comprised of Dr. Salvitti and his children, contributes to many local organizations, including The Washington Health System, The Women’s Shelter, The City Mission, Washington County Food Bank and more.

Southwestern Pennsylvania Eye Center is located at 750 E. Beau St., Washington and 343 E. Roy Furman Highway, Suite 103, Waynesburg. For more information, call 724-228-2982 or visit swpaeyecenter.com.