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 r
ight. 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 Patch Pals
http://www.patchpals.com/patch_pals_
PO Box 26
Hiawatha, IA 52233
Phone and Fax: 319-393-2620
Email: PatchPals@aol.com
Cost: Patches range from $7-$10, Patch Club is $25 (T-shirt and more) Puppy and Patch $30
Ratings given 1-5 for the following criteria.
1 Doesn’t meet my expectations, 5 Exceeds my expectations
Cuteness Factor 5+
Durability 5
Full Eye Occlusion 5*
Performs with sweat 3
Patching Support 5
Reusable Yes
* I cut a slit in the very end so that the temples could thread through the patch because the eye patch was slipping inside her glasses and rubbing her eyes and allowing her to see around the patch. After I did this, we had no problems at all.
Total patching hours for the week (Goal 14), Actual = 14 hours
Elly’s response: “Oooohhh the doggie has a patch too!”
Mom’s response:
I am very impressed with this company’s “total package.” They really are about making the patching experience easier for kids. Elly was in love with the patch pal doggie and carried her around all week. He is the softest, cutest little doggie. We only let her have him when it was patch time. She really wanted the dog, so she kept the patch on. One day she took the patch off and we put the patch and doggie away. She cried by the door and begged to have the patch on again. I really can’t argue with that! She wasn’t as into the patch club t-shirt and other goodies. I think she is really too young to get it, but I thought they were neat!
As for the patch, I think we made our patching goals based on the cuteness of the patch and the puppy, because Elly didn’t really like the way the patch felt on her face. It was made out of felt and had a thin liner, but was still a little scratchy for my texture oriented girl. She seemed to get used to it as time wore on. On the flip side, I was impressed because for the first time she actually requested me to put the patch on when we went to a play date with friends. She wanted to show them her puppy patch. Thankfully all my mom friends played along and oogled over how cute it was.
For Little Eyes 
Amomofelly…. I am long overdue to tell you thank you for this WONDERFUL research you are doing!!!! It is such a huge help, and I am sure will be to many parents!! Thanks also for always rating on the sweat issue…. 🙂 I am working on getting a patch that you recommended since it is getting hot here and Ellie’s patches are coming off. We had vision therapy, and I am excited to share new ideas for patching, but I have to run off for now! Hopefully after this weekend, things will slow down a little here. Happy Mother’s Day to you!
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Thanks Corrie, I think Belle at Adventures in Amblyopia tried and liked the patch too. The patch we are trying this week is not working for us (more details to come Friday) So, I have given Elly a choice which patch she wants to put on. The doggie patch from Patch Pals has been the only one she has choosen so far. Today, without me saying anything, she even went to the patch bowl where we keep an assorment of patches and brought the doggie one to me and said, “Time for patching.” How exciting!!!! =)
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My daughter Loves her patch pals but she peeks with them. I like the idea of cutting another “slit” into it. We just double patch when she wears it because she peeks – I think some of it is actually that it is really big! The Kitty Kat patch pal is her fav-o though that got her over the hurdle of actually wearing the patch. She would put it on and go around Meow-ing.
That puppy is adorable too!!! I think I’ll have to get that one for her at some point. She still resists patching but it is getting better.
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To be honest, after experience with patching and it working perfectly, peeking is not such a big deal. As long as they are using it correctly for most of the time, peeking out is just part of the fun of it for them and didn\’t make any difference for my daughter. If you think about it, they don\’t really peek many minutes out of the hours they have to wear it, especially if they are kept busy during that time.
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I am SOOO jelous that patching went so smoothly and that peeking wasn’t an issue with your daughter. We are going on year 2 of patching. This patch was great for us, but there were a couple that she could “peek” out of and my almost 3 year old literally walked around with her head tilted to the side so she could see out of the patch. I should have taken a picture. =) I am curious – which have you been using???
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Hi. I just found this page and it made me so happy. Gael, my son, is two. He´s had surgery for cataracs in his left eye, and now for strabism. We live in Mexico and the only patches available are the band-aid type in large. I´m working on having patch pals patches shipped to me, but it´s going to take a while. The patches he uses now cover a huge chunk of his face and leave him with very irritated skin.
I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for avoiding the irritation. Thanks
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Our ophthalmologist told us to use milk of magnesia, but I have not tried this as our daughter did not have skin irritation from it. We have been patching since she is four months old and have tried a variety of patches. We just got the patches from framehuggers.com (amomofelly did a great review on these patches here: http://littlefoureyes.com/2009/07/07/week-6-%E2%80%93-framehuggers/) and LOVE them. She absolutely cannot peak around them and the first thing she said…”oooh…. these are so soft.” Camille is very helpful, and I am sure she would ship it to Mexico if she can. I hope you can get some different patches soon as the sticky kind is so much harder to put on and keep on! I know it is so hard to have to put your son through the patching, but it is all so worth it!
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