Dr Olivia Charlotte Read is an ophthalmologist based in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). As a specialist ophthalmologist, Dr Read has performed thousands of cataract surgeries in her 16 years of practice. Dr Read is also a specialist in glaucoma, medical retina surgery, cataract surgery and squint surgery. Her niche expertise includes functional and cosmetic oculoplastic surgery (droopy eyelids), as well as nasolacrimal surgery (tearing eyes).

Dr Read obtained her medical degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2000. She completed her internship at Groote Schuur Hospital and her community service at Eshowe Hospital in Northern Natal. She worked in the Ophthalmology unit at Frere Hospital in East London, then went on to specialise at the University of Stellenbosch where she completed her registrar training, together with her MMed in Ophthalmology in 2011. 

After moving to Gqeberha in 2011, Dr Read worked as a consultant at the Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital from 2011 until 2017. It was here that she gained vast experience due to the high patient load, and varied pathology. Following her six-year service at the hospital, Dr Read went into private practice. 

Dr Read is passionate about her patients, from adults to children, and has access to world-class technology to ensure she can offer the very best in eye care and life-changing operations. While her private practice is based at St George’s Hospital in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) Dr Read also consults in Kariega (Uitenhage) every Tuesday.

Outside of ophthalmology, Dr Read enjoys outdoor activities, and loves mountain biking, road cycling and paddling. When she is not spending time in nature, she is practising photography or has her head buried in a book. But what she enjoys most on her days off is spending time with her husband and her two very busy young boys.