Dr. Miles Wilson “M.W.” Rhyne Jr. has a foot in the past and an eye toward the future. He’s a Heiskell guy, for sure, and his office is uniquely decorated with antiques and family mementoes, alongside the latest in vision technology.

He and wife Susan live on the 120-acre family farm in Bull Run Valley. Their son, Seth, has graduated from UT and is studying optometry. Seth and Caitlin Chase were married during the pandemic at an outdoor ceremony on the farm.

M.W. Rhyne OD

While he treats patients of all ages and conditions, Dr. Rhyne has become an expert in the treatment of binocular vision disorders – conditions in which the eyes are unable to align property.

He says poor binocularity can affect depth perception, spatial awareness and visual tracking. It can lead to headaches, double vision, difficulty reading, car sickness, vertigo and more.

M.W. Rhyne Jr., OD, graduated from Powell High School, 1966; the University of Tennessee, 1970; and Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, 1974. His partnership practice, Rhyne & Patton on Callahan Road, extended from 1978 until 2016.

In 2017, Rhyne opened a solo practice, East Tennessee Binocular Vision Center, at 9051 Executive Park Drive, Suite 401, in the Cedar Bluff area. A painting of his dad dominates the wall of the reception room. Office fixtures include a polished oak bench from the Southern RR terminal. On a table up front are eggs and garden items from the Rhyne farm. Take what you need and leave a donation for his church, Mt. Hermon United Methodist.

In the back are high-tech exam rooms and a spacious room for vision therapy.

Why does the doctor still farm, and why does the farmer still practice optometry? Rhyne says it’s simple. His jobs are complementary. Farming is physically demanding; it clears the mind. It is dirt-therapy.

“But when I get too tired, I just go back to the office.” Info: 865-437-3166 or etbvc.com.

The story behind the saws

Maryville artist Christy Davis calls Dr. Rhyne her “saving grace.” She sought the help of several eye doctors after having severe double vision. She even consulted a neurologist. “All of their tests came back negative; however, my vision continued to worsen.”

She was referred to Dr. Rhyne and right away he started questioning her and digging into her medical history. “He identified my problem as having been caused by a previous automobile accident that had created problems with the relay action between my brain function and my vision. I then started a series of therapy treatments,” she says.

“You see, as an artist, the loss of my normal vision was detrimental and could have been career-ending. But Dr. Rhyne was my saving grace. Without him I don’t know if I would even be able to continue with my artwork today.”

Christy Davis said thanks by creating artwork on sawblades, depicting M.W. Rhyne Sr. and the Rhyne family farm.

Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today.