Silvia Pelini, OD

Caring for Chicagoland eyes on South Michigan Avenue since 1996.

Dr. Silvia Pelini earned her Doctor of Optometry from the Illinois College of Optometry in 1993. Three years later she took over the office at 328 S. Michigan Ave., and she has been there ever since.

She grew up in Michigan and came to Chicago in 1988. This summer marked 30 years at the practice, and some of the patients she saw in her first year still come in every year.

Dr. Pelini takes a holistic, nutrition-aware approach to eye health. Her first question is often “How’s your diet?” because what you eat, how you sleep and the medications you take can all show up in your eyes.

Dr. Pelini has spent much of her career giving eye care away. She volunteers with low-income vision clinics here in Chicago, with Room to Read, and with her neighborhood church food pantry.

Starting as an optometry student, she has made vision care mission trips to Thailand, Haiti, Chile, El Salvador and Honduras, work that WGN9 featured on Chicago’s Very Own.

She has also volunteered on VOSH International clinic trips, including a 2014 trip to Nepal where the team provided eye care and glasses to about 1,600 patients.

When she isn’t working, she cooks, stays active with yoga, cycling and lifting weights, and is slowly getting better at Italian.