Lions learn to treat dry eyes

BLYTHEVILLE— Family Eye Care’s Dr. Jennifer Button was the guest speaker Tuesday afternoon where she expressed the importance of general eye care and how to treat dry eyes.

Dr. Button was introduced by Lion and fellow optometrist Dr. Dean Gurley who gave a short bio on Dr. Button and expressed she has been in the Family Eye Care office in Blytheville since 2022.

A native of Wichita, Kansas, Dr. Button studied at several colleges and met her husband, Dr. Evan Button, while in residency in Oklahoma.

She had already signed a contract to work in Kansas after residency. So she practiced for two years in Kansas before getting married and moving to Blytheville where she practices with Dr. Gurley and Dr. Matt Jones at Family Eye Care in Blytheville and Paris Eye Clinic in Paragould.

Dr. Button added that just because you have a perfect vision doesn’t mean you have a “holy eye”.

“A holy eye doesn’t mean 20/20 vision. I have had people come in all the time and say, ‘I haven’t had an eye exam for 40 years because I’ve never needed glasses.’ That does not mean your eyes are necessarily healthy,” explained Dr. Button.

She added there’s a big difference between a healthy eye and the need to have glasses. She mentioned that vision changes can be gradual and go unnoticed for years.

Dr. Button expressed that your eyes can tell me about your body than just how well you see. They can express stress, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

According to Dr. Button, eye exams are short and most of the time painless.

For parents who recently have had a child, the infant should have their first eye exam in the first year of their life, according to Dr. Button.

“The minimum schedule I recommend is always within the first year of life to make sure nothing major is going on,” explained Dr. Button. “We have a baby that’s two months old right now and I’ve already done an at-home eye exam on her.”

For adults, she explained the minimum to get an eye exam once a year just to make sure everything is okay and then to possibly update your glasses or contact prescription.

Dry eye syndrome is an ongoing chronic condition, which can become worse if not treated.

According to Dr. Button, dry eye syndrome is due to your eyes not producing enough tears or good quality tears.

Dr. Button added the syndrome is common and 49 million patients suffer from it and only half are diagnosed due to people not realizing they have dry eye.

“If your eyes are just draining, running, watery, it’s cause they’re dry,” said Dr. Button.

Causes are from everyday life such as weather, the environment, your age and health, and autoimmune diseases.

Dr. Button explained that a temporary fix that their office prescribes is a type of artificial tear.

Dr. Gurley added the artificial tear made at the office works in roughly 15 seconds.

Other temporary fixes are artificial tears, warm compression, eyelid cleansing, vitamins, humidifiers, and eyelash health.

In her Paragould office, there are two machines, called OptiPlus and OptiLight, that get to the root causes of dry eye syndrome.

OptiLight is the first and only FDA approved to treat dry eye syndrome, according to Dr. Button.