Meet Dr. Catherine Makin, New Braunfels

New Braunfels has never been the kind of place where people are content to drive somewhere else for what they need. The town has grown fast — and the expectation has grown with it: care that’s excellent should also be close.

That’s the thinking behind our New Braunfels office, and it’s a good part of why we’re glad to have Dr. Catherine Makin, DO seeing patients here. If you live in Comal County and you’ve been putting off an eye exam, or you’ve been told you have a cataract, or your eyes have been burning and watering for months with no clear answer — this is who you’d see, and what you’d find.

The Future of Vision… Today!

Meet Dr. Catherine Makin, DO

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Dr. Makin came to medicine by way of the brain. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from the University of California, Santa Cruz, focusing on the molecular pathway, before earning her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine at Touro University in Vallejo, California.

She completed her ophthalmology residency at Valley Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas, where she trained under Dr. Glen Hatcher. Before joining Westlake Eye Specialists, she served as Medical Director at EyeSight Hawaii on Maui — running a practice on an island where, if the care isn’t good locally, patients are getting on a plane. That experience shapes how she practices now.

She’s a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, the American Osteopathic Association, and the American Osteopathic Colleges of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.

Ask her what she’s actually here to do, and the answer is less clinical than the credentials suggest.

Patients notice that part first. The training is what makes it work.

What she treats

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Dr. Makin’s clinical focus covers the conditions that bring most adults to an eye doctor in the first place.

Cataracts

A cataract is the natural lens of your eye gradually clouding — and it happens to nearly everyone eventually. The signs are rarely dramatic: headlights that starburst at night, colors that seem washed out, a prescription that keeps changing. Cataract surgery is one of the most common and most successful procedures in all of medicine, and today it comes with real choices about the lens implant that replaces your own — including options that reduce your dependence on glasses afterward. Dr. Makin walks patients through those choices without rushing them.

Dry eye

Burning, watering, grittiness, blurry vision that clears when you blink — dry eye is enormously common and, in Central Texas, made worse by wind, cedar season, and air conditioning that runs eight months a year. It’s also frequently dismissed. It shouldn’t be. Our Dry Eye Center offers treatments well beyond artificial tears, including LipiFlow and TearCare, IPL therapy, and platelet-rich plasma drops for stubborn cases.

Pterygium

That wedge of tissue creeping across the white of the eye — sometimes called surfer’s eye — is a sun-and-wind condition, which makes it a Texas condition. Left alone it can grow far enough to distort vision. Treatment is straightforward when it’s addressed early.

She also handles routine and medical eye exams, and the broad range of conditions that turn up in them.

The New Braunfels office

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Our New Braunfels clinic sits at 218 E Austin Street, just off the main stretch downtown. It’s a full-service eye care office — not a satellite that only does screenings and sends you up the highway.

Patients here have access to:

• Comprehensive and medical eye exams — including diabetic eye exams.
• Cataract evaluation and laser-assisted cataract surgery — with the full premium lens catalog.
• Dry eye diagnosis and advanced treatment — well beyond artificial tears.
• Glaucoma testing and management — backed by our interventional glaucoma program.
• Cornea care — including pterygium and conjunctival chalasis.
• LASIK and vision correction consultations — LASIK, PRK, EVO ICL, and RLE.
• Eye allergy treatment and oculoplastic services — including ocular allergies and lid procedures.

A local office with a full practice behind it

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Here’s the part that matters when something turns out to be more complicated than a routine exam.

The New Braunfels office isn’t a standalone clinic. It’s part of Westlake Eye Specialists, founded and led by Dr. Zarmeena Vendal, MD, a Harvard fellowship-trained glaucoma specialist who has cared for Central Texas eyes for nearly two decades. Our practice runs a dedicated surgery center, a glaucoma program built around earlier intervention, and one of the most complete premium lens catalogs in the region.

So your eye exam happens ten minutes from home. And if what we find calls for a subspecialist, an advanced laser, or a surgical suite, you’re already inside the practice that has them. No starting over. No hunting for a referral.

Your next step

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Whether it’s a routine exam you’ve postponed for a couple of years or a problem that’s been nagging at you for months, the New Braunfels office is open and taking appointments. You can learn more about the New Braunfels location or read Dr. Makin’s full profile before you call.

Westlake Eye Specialists serves patients in New Braunfels, Austin, Westlake Hills, South Austin, Kyle, Georgetown, and Killeen.