In 1973, Dr. Paul Uslan, fresh from optometry school in Indiana, chose Ann Arbor and has practiced here ever since with no regrets. 

“I was a hippie, and Ann Arbor was a very hippie-friendly town,” he says with the New Jersey accent he never lost. “Pretty much, it was the only place I could practice with a ponytail, and it was actually a practice-builder!”

Dr. Paul C. Uslan Optometry was based at Church and South University before moving to a more accessible office on N. Maple and Miller in 1992. Having come of age as the first soft contact lenses were coming out, he developed clinical expertise and played a role in establishing fitting protocols.

“When I came here, I introduced myself to [U-M’s] Kellogg [Eye Center] as the new contact lens expert,” he recalls. “They started sending me all their contact lens patients, and within a month, I was doing all of Michigan’s athletes.”

Alongside his wife Georgia, who managed the office and helped patients select eyeglass frames, they served four generations until recently selling the practice to a couple looking to return to their native area from a stint in Virginia.

It will soon be renamed Crouch Optometry, says Dr. Corey Crouch, who grew up in Belleville and graduated from the Early College Alliance and EMU before heading to optometry school in Philadelphia. He and his wife, Lindsay, both thirty-one, have taken over the Uslans’ respective roles.

“That was the practice I initially wanted when I graduated from school, and it finally became available,” says Dr. Crouch. “It’s kind of a dream to be back in Ann Arbor. They basically created a family, so the goal is just to be the next people taking care of the family.”

While the Crouches also tend to two young sons, the Uslans, both seventy-nine, head into retirement to more fully enjoy seven grandkids who live locally.

“The first thing we needed to find was somebody who was experienced and somebody who cared, because I think caring is missing so much in health care now,” Dr. Uslan says. “It’s sort of like the perfect match karma.”

Dr. Paul C. Uslan Optometry/Crouch Optometry, 1528 N. Maple. (734) 769–1222. Mon., Tues., & Thurs. 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Fri. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Closed Wed., Sat., & Sun. drpaulcuslan.com

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