Welcome to our patch challenge- WEEK 2. 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. She has struggled with patching in the past and so…. We are on a quest for a PERFECT PATCH!
This week we tried Anissa’s Fun Patches
P.O. Box 455 Chuckey, TN 37641
Phone: (423)234-3404
http://www.anissasfunpatches.com/index.html
email: anissasfunpatch@mounet.com
Cost: 1 for $5.25, 3 for $18.00, or 4 for $20.00 with $2.00 shipping and handling
Ratings given 1-5 for the following criteria.
1 Doesn’t meet my expectations, 5 Exceeds my expectations
Cuteness Factor 5
Durability 3*
Full Eye Occlusion 4
Performs with sweat 5
Patching Support 5
Reusable Yes
*We wore the patch the first day for 1 ½ hours with no complaints. I turned my head for a second and she ripped the patch off the glasses. We used a little electrical tape to fix it and after moms stern warning, she let me take the patch off for the rest of the week.
Total patching hours for the week (Goal 14), Actual = 12 hours
Elly’s response: “I want to see a picture of Anissa!”
Mom’s response: This patch is SO cool. It is made out of foam that is stiff, but still flexible. Some people come up with the most creative things!!! Elly wore it very easily because it did not irritate her skin at all and I think she actually forgot it was on a couple times. We would have made our patching goal for the week, but the patch was lost for a day (Whoops – found it in the laundry) I was worried that she would be able to peek around it, but when the patch is worn like the directions say, “Adjust position on ear piece so that the patch fits against the face eliminating the ability to see around the patch.” There was only one time when I think she looked under it. I also like the patching support they offer. On the website, there is a Photo Gallery of kids wearing the patch and we showed the pictures to Elly during patch time and talked about how other kids patch to make their eyes stronger too. They also have a cute little activity book with coloring pages of animals patching, some activities, and a reward chart with stickers. We only let Elly color in the book when she was patching and found it helpful to have something new and rewarding to do. If you are patching any amount of time, I strongly recommend having at least one of these patches around for the hot summer days. They are comfortable, reusable, and very budget friendly.
For Little Eyes 
I just got the nicest e-mail from Doris at Annisa’s Patches. She shared with me some information that can prolong the use of the patch if it gets torn and I wanted to pass on the information to you. “Thanks for sharing your results. I’m glad she did well with them. One thing I probably did not mention. – When the patch tears, you can trim it with scissors and cut a new slit. You can do that at least one time and still get sufficient coverage.” Like I said in the post, some people are very creative, I didn’t even think of that when Elly ripped it off!
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Thanks for this wonderful round up of patches…we tried Anissa’s patch and it has solved our patching woes (for the moment, anyway!) My daughter is 3 and was flat out refusing to patch until we got this one. We use the sticker chart and give her a reward every few stickers.
Do you know what material the patch is made of? I would like to try to find it and make some patches of our own.
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wow! I just switched to these patches and they are fantastic. Not only is the occlusion briliant but I have to say they also look so nice. They are slim, neat and actually work. So simple. I am so happy we found these. While other over the glasses patches are good, they are definitely more heavy and bulky and do tend to fall down. Paris also likes to look at the picture of Anissa and if she goes to remove it we take out the brochure and look at the pictures of Anissa with her rainbow patch on and she is happy to keep it on :). While I am on the subject I also wanted to say how very nice it is to have such a wonderful network of people on this website. I had one lovely woman send me 30 orthopod patches to try for Paris and a lovely note from her daughter Emma to Paris saying she hoped the patches worked and she like them! Thank you Chrissy.Have also received other emails from members with encouragement and support and help with ordering patches for me and posting to Australia as we dont have access to a few brands here. So thank you so much it makes a world of difference. We are winning in this patching challenge and Paris’s eye is improving out of sight. It is straighter every day and stronger, in fact her eye is really not drifting much at all anymore even without the glasses. I am so happy and thankful. This website and all the wonderful people on it have helped us so much. 🙂
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Thanks for the reviews ladies, they have been very helpful! I was considering Anissa’s fun patches for my 3 yar old son, and your wonderful reviews of them have made up my mind.
I was very happy to see they post to Australia, because as Ingrid mentioned, we really don’t have too many options here. I found it hard enough just getting my hands on the adhesive type (which were both ugly, and irritating to Matt’s skin).
Will let you know how we go with the fun patches 🙂
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