Optometry Staff in Bellingham, WA

Optometrists & Staff

Meet the experienced and friendly team who makes Advanced Vision Family Eye Care a proud provider of vision care products and services in Bellingham.

Dr. Spencer Young

Despite the many career paths that we can pursue in life, Dr. Spencer Young has known he wanted to be an eye doc since he was in the fifth grade. His dream officially became a reality when he attended the Illinois College of Optometry and graduated in 1992 with his doctorate in optometry.

As an Optometric Physician, Dr. Young diagnoses and treats a variety of conditions that are related to the human eye and visual system. Along with conducting comprehensive eye exams and fitting glasses and contact lenses, Dr. Young and the Advanced Vision team manage diseases of the eye, such as diabetes, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and cataracts. He also provides post-operative co-management care for cataract and laser eye surgery.

In addition to practicing state-of-the-art medicine, Dr. Young strives to treat each patient as he would want to be treated – like family. It is important to him that each patient understands completely the status of their ocular health and is knowledgeable about all available options, whether surgical or optical. Dr. Young takes particular pride in being able to provide contact lens services to patients that other doctors have told could not be fit.

Dr. Buttar

Dr. Buttar was born in India and raised in Kent, Washington. She obtained her bachelor's degree in biology from Pacific Lutheran University in Washington. Graduating summa cum laude from the Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago, Dr. Buttar consistently earned a place on the Dean’s List throughout her four years in optometry school. Additionally, she is a distinguished member of the Beta Sigma Kappa and Tomb & Key honor societies.

Dr. Buttar initiated her optometric career at Bellingham Eye Physicians, where she developed expertise in diagnosing and managing a diverse array of ocular diseases, including advanced glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, and optic disc drusen, as well as handling ocular emergencies.

After two years at the MD/OD practice, she relocated to the Seattle area to join a private practice. In addition to her work with ocular diseases, she has a particular enthusiasm for specialty contact lenses, finding great fulfillment in assisting patients with keratoconus and post-LASIK ectasia to achieve clear and comfortable vision.

In her leisure time, Dr. Buttar enjoys spending quality moments with her husband and sons, cooking, watching films, and traveling.

Janet T. – Paraoptometric

Janet joined the Advanced Vision Team in early 2015. She does most of the administrative work for Advanced Vision and is also an Ophthalmic Technician. She’s been thoroughly cross-trained and has attended various eye care education and training courses.

Some of her day-to-day duties include running tests and taking measurements as requested by the physician when needed. Working at Advanced Vision has brought her career to a whole new level while still enabling her to engage in the customer service work that she enjoys.

Janet is originally from the beautiful island of the Philippines. She speaks and reads the native language “Tagalog” and “Bicol” as her dialect. Las Vegas was her first home when she came to the USA in 2001. Having worked in a fast, upscale hospitality/customer service industry in Las Vegas, Janet discovered how much she liked interacting with people, face to face. She relocated to Bellingham in 2010 when the love of her life, her son was born.

In her free time, Janet loves to travel and spend time with family and friends. Most of all, she loves to eat real food!

Karri P. - Licensed dispensing optician (LDO) ABO and NCLE certified

Karri began her optical profession in 1996, later completing the rigorous examination process required to obtain her optician license from the Washington State Department of Health. Additionally, Karri obtained both her ABO and NCLE Certifications, from the National Board of Opticianry.

With nearly thirty years of experience, Karri has held many positions within small, private practices, and large corporate operations. Regardless of the size of the office, Karri excels at providing exceptional patient experience through an encyclopedic knowledge of insurance billing, lab operations, marketing, patient and employee scheduling, conflict resolution, and management of clinic operations.

Karri finds immense satisfaction offering the highest level of patient care. She finds it equally rewarding to be an accessible resource to her co workers. Karri recalls fondly her mentors and how they helped shape her career path. Now, she feels it’s her opportunity to pay it forward to the next generation of professional opticians.

In her down time, Karri enjoys International travel, and destination golf with lifelong friends. Her goal is to play golf in all 50 States, so far, 9 down