Welcome to our patch challenge- WEEK 1. My daughter is 2 ½ and has Amblyiopia. We are currently trying to help her brain recognize her right eye. She has perfect vision in her left eye and -7.75 in her right. The patching only and Atrophine only solution is not working, so our PO has recommended a combination of patching and drops.
I recently e-mailed all the companies that made patches for little kids that I could find and asked them if they wanted to participate in my patch study. Since Elly refuses to keep a patch on and has fought “patching time” for over a year, I am now on the quest for a PERFECT PATCH!
Most of the company’s that sell kids patches are family stores created because someone special in their life has Amblyiopia. Every company that I have written to or spoken with on the phone has been absolutely delightful to work with and genuinely care about kids with vision issues. No matter which patch works best for us, I would highly recommend all of them for their level for their customer service!
This week we tried the MYI patches from
The Fresnel Prism and Lens Co. 6824 Washington Ave S. Eden Prairie, MN 55344 USA 800-544-4760 toll free 952-496-0432 phone 952-403-7900 fax
Cost: $15.00 per pack of 51 patches – you choose 3 designs per pack.Shipping in US by Priority Mail – 2-3 days for delivery – $6.75 for shipping 1-6 packs of patches
Ratings given 1-5 for the following criteria.
1 Doesn’t meet my expectations, 5 Exceeds my expectations
Cuteness Factor 5
Durability 4
Full Eye Occlusion 5
Performs with sweat 4 *
Patching Support 3
Reusable NO
*Elly was running at the park and it was 80 degrees. She was working up a sweat, but the patch stayed on for 90 minutes.
Total patching hours for the week (Goal 14), Actual = 13 hours
Elly’s response: “Ooooohhhhh, bright colors!”
Mom’s response:
“They sent 10 patches of regular size and 10 of the smaller size. I laughed because Elly went through more than 100 patches in a week of a different brand of “peel and stick” patches. We made it through, but used all 20. =) (Once undone, they don’t re-stick.) I think it was because the designs were really bright and cute and she LOVED picking out which one she wanted to wear. If you are using another brand of stick-on patches, I would highly recommend you try these to add some cute patching choices. It may help motivate your child to keep the patch on longer. I know it helped mine! The inside of the patch is black and I know it did a really good job of occluding her vision, because there were many times during the week she would cry to take the patch off because she couldn’t see. There was only one time that her skin became irritated and red after removing the patch – maybe she pulled it off too quick? I also really liked the smaller junior size with Elly because the glasses seemed to sit better on her face and bothered her less. I just wish they were not so much $$$ or that our insurance would cover it. The way we go through them, it would cost us around $30 per month at $360 per year for patches.
For Little Eyes 
For some reason, I find the notion of cute eyepathces on little kids positively adorable. Good thing that it actually helps your kid keep them on, and they’re not just being decorative.
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Hi!! I just found your website and I’m so blessed. My DS4 was diagnosed with lazy eye and squint at 2, and was patching and on glasses since. My DD10mo was diagnosed at 4 months and went for surgery at 5 months. She’s now patching.
We started with the adhesive patches, but peeling them off were a big pain. Also their skin seemed to react to the adhesive.
Last year, I found this amazing tutorial to patch your own stylish, cute, functional and comfortable eye patches.
http://lucykatecrafts.blogspot.com/2008/02/eye-patch-tutorial.html
My son loves it! I made his with a googly eye stuck to it. 🙂 And my DD, since she’s not on glasses yet, has a pretty one with a headband.
HTH!
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Jolene, welcome! I sure hope you’ll send Ann a picture of your kids and the patches you’ve made. I think the idea of adding a googly eye is so much fun! I love LucyKate’s post too – the patch and tutorial is great, but Elly doesn’t like the feel of felt, so I was thinking about trying one out of fleece. We are going to be trying out a whole bunch of companies over the next couple months and there are some re-usable patches coming up that I’m really excited about – stay tuned =)
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I forgot to mention that I didn’t use felt on the side that touched the eye – I used soft cotton. 🙂 Very comfortable and not scratchy at all.
I’m still finding my way around your amazing website… not sure how to send any photos yet. 😉
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That would make sense. If I find time, I will try it. Right now, I am SOOOO SPOILED with all the great patches on the marked right now, that it may be a few weeks before I get to making my own.
About the pictures, just e-mail them to Ann. Her address is on the top right of the screen.
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In Elly’s defense, patching sucks! I’m 24 and patching for an hour a night. Mine is just pirate style with a strap! I’m sure it’s made for kids- it’s too small and leaves huge imprints on my face. God bless my husband! 🙂
To point out the obvious, it’s not just awful to have to wear the actual patch… it’s awful because it’s hard to see! We are without our good eye. I always feel like I’m about to run into something or my husband or dog are going to sneak up on me. That’s a very uncomfortable feeling. Especially for a child who doesn’t fully understand why they are doing this. They can’t see the benefits of it the way you and I can. Additionally, they don’t understand what good eye-sight is. All they know is their own. So they really don’t know what all the fuss is about. Hope that makes sense.
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I have a couple of questions for you about your eye patching experience…will you email me? cds07a [at] acu [dot] edu!
Thanks 🙂
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Hi Amomofelly,
My daughter has quite a similar diagnosis to your Elly. She has perfect vision in left eye and -3.74 in right eye. As a result she has an intermittent outward turn and possible amblyopia in her weak eye. She was diagnosed at one and is wearing glasses and they are doing quite a good job keeping the eye straight most of the time. We see the PO in August and he will determine if we need to patch then. Just wondering does Elly also have a squint or just amblyopia and how is she going, being a bit older. Any information you can share would be so helpful. I notice many more children are long sighted so contacting parents in the same boat is harder! Particularly when the short sight is in only one eye. Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
ingrid
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Our son (now 7) patches to help overcome the effects of an injury. He HATES patching. Although he softened a little when we got the MYI design patches, we find ourselves mixing them up with other brands. Even though he only has to patch every-other day now, he gets a welt around his eye from the adhesive. They stick much better, but maybe too well? I read through your site hoping to find other alternatives.
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My baby daughter wears a patch for 3 hours a day. Until now we have been using the Coverlet Eye Occluser but I thought it was a good idea to look at other brands. From the research I have done so far I am looking at the MYI patches. My reason is that I wanted something that looks prettier! I am so sick of the rude comments that strangers make about my sweet baby that I am hoping this will help. It looks like the MYI ones are similar to the Coverlet patches – quite thick with a black center on the inside. We were given the advice to put a little milk of magnesia around the eye where the adhesive will stick, let it dry to a chalky finish and then apply the patch. This seems to work pretty well (with the Coverlet). there is not much redness and rarely a complaint from my 9 month old. I will be interested to see what the MYI patches are like
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Hi Lucy, welcome and all the best to you with the patching! We just got a box of these MYI patches and our three-year-old daughter likes to wear them, but they are very sticky and do make her skin red right after she takes one off. We like them because they do not come off easy, so I don’t have to worry about her taking one off early. Even if she cries or sweats, they stay put for the six hours she has to wear hers. We also have the framehuggers patch that attaches to her glasses, but for some reason, she prefers the sticky ones. I am not sure if it is the designs on them or if it’s because she tries to peak around the other ones and it is straining her eye, or if she is just a typical three-year-old. 🙂 I think you will like these, and you can pick out three designs per box.
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Hi!! I was searching and found this…My son has the same problem with his left eye.Problem is he totally refuses to wear a patch and there’s not much more I can do considering he’s only 10 months….help…How do I keep him from ripping it off??? I’ve tried keeping him occupied, eating, playing…it will only last for 10 mins and his Doc wants it on for at least an HOUR each day…..I don’t know what to do 😦
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