Janelle Davison, OD, says a recent conversation with a patient shined a spotlight on the need for specialized patient education. “I asked a patient during an exam how she was cleaning/removing her eye makeup at night, and she told me that she spits on a Q-tip and uses that to wipe off her liner,” Dr. Davison recalls. “She was a well-educated woman who was performing a daily cosmetic blunder that could potentially be harmful to her overall eye health. At that moment, I knew I had to step in.”
And so Eye Spa Talk, a weekly livestream Q&A hosted on Dr. Davison’s page on Facebook, was created to provide further education in regards to ocular enhancements and aesthetics. It’s a mix of helpful tips of what to do and what to avoid, all in a safe space for Q&A without fear of judgment, on the first through third Sunday evenings of each month. The videos are also archived on her YouTube channel for her #eyesquad subscribers. “My overall goal is to empower women, especially women of color,” Dr. Davison says. “We are not actively engaged in cosmetics and dry eye arenas. I want to make sure my followers are engaged and educated.”
Dr. Davison is familiar with hosting educational streams in the past that focused on preventative eye measures to safeguard against potentially blinding eye conditions, but this is her first time approaching solely the topics of ocular enhancements and aesthetic patient education. “I love the ability to collaborate with so many awesome women in the ocular enhancement and aesthetic arena,” she says. Most of the connections are from longstanding relationships, and she’s networked and made connections with others on LinkedIn. Dr. Davison regularly follows women who are comfortable speaking in these areas. “These connections allow me to gain more knowledge, and my listeners get to experience various opinions, options and treatments available from various providers.” Dr. Davison says that she’s fortunate to have included dialogue with dry eye pioneers such as Leslie O’Dell, OD, FAAO; Pam Theriot, OD, FAAO; and Magnetic Lash Maven and creator of Opulence MD, oculoplastic surgeon Anika Goodwin, MD, FACS.
Eye Spa Talk has become an outlet for Dr. Davison on Sunday evenings, and she looks forward to continuing the series. It’s like a weekly, virtual girls’ night out. Future plans for the series include virtual tours and demonstrations of ocular surface disease imaging and treatments that she provides in her Eye Spa such as the Oculus 5 Keratography, AB Max Microexofolation, and the Mibo Thermoflo, and she hopes to partner with leading industry vendors and providers to expand her educational platform.
