Meet the Eye Surgeon
Practice Vision
I decided to start my own practice because I didn't want to practice in the "assembly-line" eye care model; I want to be able to spend time with patients. My metric of success is happy patients, not volume or money. I feel that I can provide superior, personalized care by being involved in a patient's visit right from the beginning. I'm not that old, but I've already seen thousands of eyes. This experience allows me to quickly hone in on what is likely bothering a patient and order the appropriate diagnostic testing (if any at all), instead of employing the "shotgun approach" whereby a technician (sometimes new to the job) asks a million questions and has any number of tests performed before a patient is even seen by the eye surgeon. Patients deserve more, they deserve to be listened to and given time to ask questions. After all, these are eyes that we are dealing with....they are important!
Education and Surgical Training
Dr. William “Bill or Billy” Potthoff Jr. grew up in Traverse City. He is one of four children of Colleen and Bill Potthoff Sr., a general surgeon in Traverse City. He attended St. Francis High School, where he graduated as salutatorian and was an accomplished golfer, playing on the varsity golf team all four years.
He attended the University of Notre Dame for his undergraduate education, where he made the Dean’s List every semester and was a valedictorian candidate. His interest and passion for science continued to grow at Notre Dame, leading him to pursue a career in medicine. He attended the University of Michigan Medical School, graduating at the top of his class. While in medical school, he met and married his wife Lydia (Sanok), also a Traverse City native.
He completed a one year internship at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, MI before heading to Cleveland, OH for a three year residency in ophthalmology at University Hospitals Case Western Medical Center. Dr. Potthoff decided to pursue a career in ophthalmology because of it’s balanced mix of surgery and longitudinal care of patients, along with his fascination with the structure and function of the eye. He has found being an eye doctor extremely rewarding.
While in Cleveland he received a world class surgical training, where the surgical volumes of his program perennially rank in the top 10% of US ophthalmology graduates. This is due in large part to his program’s involvement at the Cleveland Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, the third largest VA in the country. The opportunities at the VA allowed Dr. Potthoff to hone his skills in complex and refractive cataract surgery and also to learn cutting edge techniques, such as minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS).
While in residency, Dr. Potthoff also developed an interest in international ophthalmology and eye care in developing countries. He was able to spend three weeks in Hyderabad, India at one of India’s premier eye hospitals where he not only learned new surgical techniques but was also immersed in the challenges of providing eye care in the developing world. In the future he hopes to be able to do more international work and help fight the global epidemic of cataract blindness.
Following completion of his residency, Dr. Potthoff joined the Garrett Eye Center in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, with locations in Iron Mountain and Escanaba. Here he gained tremendous experience performing surgery and treating a wide range of conditions. He quickly established himself as one of the elite cataract surgeons in the region, performing hundreds of successful cataract surgeries. He and his family split time between the UP and Traverse City while he was setting up Potthoff Eye Care & Surgery.
His wide-ranging surgical training and breadth of interests in ophthalmology allow Dr. Potthoff to practice comprehensively, taking care of patients’ entire ocular health. In addition, Dr. Potthoff prides himself on keeping up with the latest techniques and technologies in the ever-changing field of ophthalmology, and he is excited to practice in Traverse City.
Dr. Potthoff loves spending time with his family, including his three daughters Penelope, Paige, and Hadley. In addition to golf, he is also an avid woodworker and enjoys building furniture.