Infinity Eye Care owners expand to Willoughby

Jul 31, 2023

Dr. Ryan McKinnis and his wife, Heather, have landed on a second location in Willoughby for their Infinity Eye Care.

In 2021, the husband and wife team opened their optometry practice in Twinsburg. In January of this year, the two were able to purchase Dr. Mark Kapusta’s practice at 30851 Euclid Ave.

“He (Kapusta) had been here since 1980 and was ready to begin the retirement process,” Ryan said. “So, as of Jan. 19, we came together and said this is location number two for Infinity Eye Care.”

Dr. Ryan McKinnis and his wife, Heather, have landed on a second location in Willoughby for Infinity Eye Care, an optometry practice they started in Twinsburg amid the pandemic. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)

Dr. Ryan McKinnis and his wife, Heather, have landed on a second location in Willoughby for Infinity Eye Care, an optometry practice they started in Twinsburg amid the pandemic. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)

Dr. Ryan McKinnis and his wife, Heather, have landed on a second location in Willoughby for Infinity Eye Care, an optometry practice they started in Twinsburg amid the pandemic. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)

Dr. Ryan McKinnis and his wife, Heather, have landed on a second location in Willoughby for Infinity Eye Care, an optometry practice they started in Twinsburg amid the pandemic. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)

Dr. Ryan McKinnis and his wife, Heather, have landed on a second location in Willoughby for Infinity Eye Care, an optometry practice they started in Twinsburg amid the pandemic. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)

Dr. Ryan McKinnis and his wife, Heather, have landed on a second location in Willoughby for Infinity Eye Care, an optometry practice they started in Twinsburg amid the pandemic. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)

The couple are currently in the process of modernizing and updating the practice. When taking over for a longstanding practitioner, the pressure is to keep up the standard of care, Ryan said.

“You try not to think about it too much because it’d drive you nuts,” he said. “At the end of the day, he (Kapusta) entrusted you with his patients, so there’s some pressure there, but we enjoy the area, enjoy getting to know the patients and we think it’ll be a great match for us.”

When Ryan wanted to leave the large ophthalmology world to start his own practice, it was good timing for Heather to have her first venture back into the workforce after raising their four children.

“My youngest is 6 now, so everybody’s in school,” Heather said. “It’s been fun to take a practice that had love poured into it and getting to know the Willoughby area. The patients are wonderful.”

Prior to starting Infinity Eye Care, the couple didn’t know what to call their business.

Prior to starting Infinity, Ryan was seeing between 30 and 40 patients per day. He did not view that as sustainable long term.

“We had envisioned a practice that would perhaps be more higher end, but also more individualized in care than what some of the larger practices around could offer,” Ryan said. “With that in mind, that’s how we set out to form Infinity Eye Care.”

Since its inception, Ryan and Heather have strived to stick to their standards.

“We do not schedule a million patients a day,” Ryan said. “Most of our routine exams are scheduled for 30 minutes, so plenty of time and you get face time with the doctor. We are doing our best as long as the economics of the world allow it.”

When the two started in Twinsburg in the middle of the pandemic, it was a cold start from nothing, Heather said. They built out a space, put a sign on the door and hoped people would show.

“It was a completely different experience than what we’ve had when we came into an existing practice with staff and patients,” she said.

As far as seeing patients, there are no restrictions.

“I’ve seen kids as early as a couple months old and I think the oldest person in my practice is 101, so you get a little bit of everything,” Ryan said. “You have to be able to jump from pediatric exams to geriatric and everything in between. It’s never dull.”

Ryan went into optometry because, he said, most patients leave happier than when they came in.

“Rarely are you giving terribly bad news and it’s not common to give news where you can’t fix it,” Ryan said.

Since being at the Willoughby location, Ryan has also taken note of the “different flavor.”

“Folks up here, for being 25 miles away from Twinsburg, are different,” he said. “Folks here tend to be more recreational. They got the lake, the trails and the parks, so we’ve gotten used to the ebbs and flows of the folks who live near the lake. Sunglasses are quite popular.”

Heather feels Infinity Eye Care was a good choice for the family.

It’s been nice to be able to hold onto the small business feeling in a medical world that’s changing, Heather said.

“I’ve always been an extrovert at heart, so after spending 10 years at home with our kids, it was great to get out and have more social interaction,” she said. “There’s always challenges when you’re trying to make people see better, but I like problem solving. Working with patients is the highlight.”

Address: 30851 Euclid Ave.

Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays; closed Wednesdays, Saturday and Sundays.

Phone: To make an appointment at the Willoughby location, call 440-944-5155.

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