Niraj Desai, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Niraj Desai is a board-certified ophthalmologist and Chief Medical Officer at Milan Eye
Center. He sees patients and operates out of the Alpharetta and Cumming offices, each of
which has an accredited surgery center on site, and he has cared for the greater North
Atlanta community for more than a decade.

Dr. Desai is both a surgeon and a clinician. His weeks run between the operating room and
clinic, where he sees consultations and follows many of his surgical patients through their
recovery. Alongside him through nearly all of it is Lauren, his scribe and the one who
somehow does it all. Over more than fifteen years, this has led to thousands of procedures,
but more importantly to time spent in the company of a great many wonderful patients, who
have left them with more inspiration, more memories, and more laughter than either would
have thought to expect.

Cataract and lens surgery

• Cataract surgery using the full range of advanced technology intraocular lenses (IOLs),
  including multifocal, extended depth of focus (EDOF), toric, enhanced monofocal, and
  the light adjustable lens (LAL)
• Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) performed at the time of cataract surgery

Corneal surgery

• DMEK and DSAEK, partial-thickness transplants that replace only the damaged inner
  layer of the cornea
• DALK and full-thickness penetrating keratoplasty (PKP)
• Corneal cross-linking (CXL) for keratoconus, including epi-on CXL
• Phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK)
• Pterygium surgery

Refractive surgery

Vision correction has been central to Dr. Desai’s practice since his fellowship, and he offers
the full range of procedures rather than steering every patient toward one. Which option fits
depends on a person’s prescription, corneal anatomy, age, and what they want their vision
to do for them, and that conversation is where most consultations begin.

• LASIK
• PRK
• EVO ICL
• Refractive lens exchange (RLE) for patients who want to reduce their dependence on
  glasses before cataracts develop
• The light adjustable lens (LAL), which allows the vision to be fine-tuned after surgery
  has healed

Dr. Desai regularly works through complex cases and problems that have proven difficult to
solve elsewhere. Patients often come to him for a second or third opinion, and colleagues
call on him when a case has not gone the way anyone hoped. He has also had the privilege
of caring for physicians and optometrists, for many of Milan Eye Center’s nurses and staff
members, and for their families. Being trusted by people who know exactly what the surgery
involves is something he remains grateful for.

He also manages complex ocular surface and dry eye problems, particularly the ones that
have not responded to standard treatment or that stand in the way of a good surgical result.
Much of that work happens in preparation for surgery, where getting the ocular surface right
is what makes an accurate outcome possible.

Dr. Desai earned his medical degree at the Medical College of Georgia and completed an
internal medicine internship at the University of Hawaii. His ophthalmology residency was at
the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where the military
ophthalmology program gave him early and unusually deep exposure to femtosecond and
excimer laser technology under some of the best refractive surgeons then working. He
completed his fellowship in cornea, refractive surgery, and external disease at the University
of California, Irvine, training under the late Roger F. Steinert, MD, Marjan Farid, MD, and
Sumit “Sam” Garg, MD. While practicing in Southern California, he continued to teach as a
voluntary clinical instructor in the resident clinic.

Teaching has stayed part of his work. In 2019 he founded Milan Eye Center’s quarterly
Grand Rounds, an internal case conference for the practice’s physicians, residents, externs,
and interns that he still organizes and presents at today. Alongside the case discussions,
the group reviews journal articles and new literature that can be put to use in day-to-day
clinical practice. He has delivered more than 75 hours of COPE-accredited lectures to
optometrists across the region, and he has served as invited faculty at the American Society
of Cataract and Refractive Surgery surgical skills labs, teaching phacoemulsification
technique to surgeons early in their careers. He co-authored a chapter on conjunctival
surgery in Ophthalmic Microsurgery: Principles, Techniques, and Applications (SLACK,
2014), written at the invitation of his fellowship mentors.

His surgical experience over the years, along with a genuine interest in technology that can
improve functional vision, has led to his being included in a small group of surgeons
nationwide invited to work with new lens designs ahead of their general release. He was the
first surgeon in Georgia to implant the TECNIS Symfony, Symfony OptiBlue, Synergy,
Odyssey, and PureSee IOLs, and he serves as a consultant and advisory board member to
Johnson & Johnson Vision.

He holds hospital affiliations at Northside Hospital Forsyth and Emory Johns Creek Hospital.
Outside the office, Dr. Desai is a husband and the father of two young children. The family
travels far and wide together and tends to seek out the experiences a little off the beaten
path wherever they land. Closer to home, he does CrossFit, hikes, and golfs, which he
admits puts him in good company. He volunteers with regional temples and local community
organizations, and he speaks English, Hindi, Gujarati, and clinical Spanish.

Whether you are considering surgery for the first time, looking for another opinion on
something that has not gone as planned, or a colleague with a patient who needs a closer
look, Dr. Desai and his team would be glad to hear from you. The door is open, and the
conversation usually starts with listening.

Awards

• 2026 Castle Connolly Top AAPI Doctors
• Millennial Eye Magazine “One to Watch” Leader in Ophthalmology (2015)

Dr. Desai’s Patient Testimonials