Does anyone have to patch their childs eye?

[ChristusG]

I posted a while back about my daughter's wandering eye (she's 3). We finally got in to see the opthamologist at the children's hospital. As I figured, she has strabismus (crossed eye, but hers is going outwards and not in). We have to patch her for 5 hours a day. Plus, she has to get glasses....she has astigmatism in both eyes. We've been patching since Monday and her glasses are ordered but have not come in yet.

 

I've noticed that my normally sweet, easy going, smiley little three year old has become two different people since we have begun patching.

 

While she has the patch on she is reserved, cranky, and sad looking. When the patch is off, she is back to her usual self as I referenced above. She doesn't try to mess with the patch, she is actually very good about wearing it. Never tried to pull it off or anything. She, of course, does not like wearing it....she cries when I put it on and usually asks once or twice within the 5 hours about when we can take it off. But over all, I'd say she is doing exceptionally well with it. Except for the fact that it seems to change her personality.

 

Has anyone experienced this with their child? I try to baby her more than usual when she has the patch on, but I feel so bad that she seems to be different.

 

I dread trying to get her to wear glasses as well.

[athena1277]

My dd has a lazy eye and has to wear a patch. She was so bad when we started that she could only see the biggest picture on the chart with her bad eye. She started wearing a patch at 5 years old (when we discovered the problem). We thought surely she would be walking into walls the first day, but she was fine! Two years later she is down to wearing a patch 4 hours a day. She hates it, but is not any different with the patch on. I wonder if your dd's bad eye is in some way worse and she is having trouble seeing without glasses or her good eye.

[Joker]

I had to patch my younger dd when she was about 6 and she didn't like it at all in the beginning. We purchased the patches they had at the children's hospital - they had them in many different colors and designs and they don't hurt when you pull them off. Then I went to their website and found you could order some plain and she could color and decorate it herself with stickers. She loved wearing them then and would coordinate her patches and outfits. I don't know off the top of my head what the company name is but I'll do some searching and let ya know if I find it. We also would break up the time to 2 or even 3 times a day and it seemed to make it more tolerable. Hope it gets better.

 

ETA: This is the site I would order her patches from.

Edited June 24, 2010 by Horton

[BikeBookBread]

We tried patching but DD got migraines (and she was REALLY claustrophobic in it too...it just didn't work at all), so they switched us to eye drops (atropine) twice a week at bedtime. Works great for us.

[Joker]

I also wanted to say that you can get a patch that slips on the glasses (when she does get those) so that nothing has to actually go on her face. My dd wore glasses for about a year and the dr. gave us a little pink fabric patch.

[Jilly]

My oldest son patched every day from the age of 2 until 9. He fought me a great deal in the beginning and was not happy at all with the patch. The doctor told me it was because we were patching his good eye to make his weak eye stronger. My son didn't like it because he could not see as well and he did not like the feel of the patch on his skin. He adjusted though rather quickly (a couple of weeks), and he was fine after that. Keep at it, and I am sure your daughter will adjust soon. :)

[sarawatsonim]

My daughter has had to patch her eye since she was 4. She doesn't like it but knows that in the long run it will help her. We let her choose the glasses she wanted and now she loves to wear them (as well as the fact that she can see a whole lot better). I found and a store on ebay that sells kids homemade eye patches that are really cute. I let her go through and pick which one she liked to order. She picked the pink leopard print with a skull and cross bone patch. She still hates wearing it, but we are trying to make the best of the situation.

[Jennifer in MI]

:grouphug: Your poor dd.!!!!

 

We had to patch with our now 12 yo. He was 4 -5 when we patched. We were very open with him about why he had to patch - that he could go blind in the bad eye if he didn't. (We didn't use those terms, but you get the idea!) We tried to patch at times when we were at home - just to make life easier. We also let him watch tv (a real treat!) more than usual.

 

Re reading your post - I wonder - does your dd's patch go on the inside of her glasses? My d.s.' fit right onto his glasses. Simple! He wore the glasses ALWAYS, so putting that onto it wasn't a huge issue. If yours is different, I wonder if the issue could be something related to an adhesive? Or does she just have a hard time seeing?

:grouphug: Poor thing. Poor mom. I know how hard these things can be!!!

[Jennifer in MI]

My daughter has had to patch her eye since she was 4. She doesn't like it but knows that in the long run it will help her. We let her choose the glasses she wanted and now she loves to wear them (as well as the fact that she can see a whole lot better). I found and a store on ebay that sells kids homemade eye patches that are really cute. I let her go through and pick which one she liked to order. She picked the pink leopard print with a skull and cross bone patch. She still hates wearing it, but we are trying to make the best of the situation.

 

 

What a cutie!!!!

[athena1277]

We tried patching but DD got migraines (and she was REALLY claustrophobic in it too...it just didn't work at all), so they switched us to eye drops (atropine) twice a week at bedtime. Works great for us.

 

We tried the drops first, then switched to a doc who actually knew what he was doing and he said that in more severe cases like my dd, the drops do not work, you have to use a patch. Seems like he said her vision would have to be 20/80 or better for drops to do any good.

 

BTW, my dd is the exact opposite. She absolutely hated the drops. When her vision improved and she was given the choice, she chose patching.

[Jilly]

We tried the drops first, then switched to a doc who actually knew what he was doing and he said that in more severe cases like my dd, the drops do not work, you have to use a patch. Seems like he said her vision would have to be 20/80 or better for drops to do any good.

 

 

My doctor said the same thing to me in regards to my son. Drops were not an option, he had to patch.

[mommytobees]

We patched for almost 9 months with my then 4-year old daughter. She had a different problem than your daughter, though I can never remember what it is called. Our Doc gave it 12 months or surgery.

 

I would NOT use a patch ON THE SKIN. My Ped' optho was insistent on this point. In his experience, and he had been working with kids under the age of 12 for 25 years he found that putting a patch ON the skin for young children will actually backfire and cause the children more problems, while fixing the eye problem.

 

Instead we used a patch ON the glasses. We saved money because I just needed to get 2 patches to last us the whole 9 months.

 

Kris

[ChristusG]

She does not have her glasses yet, so we do not have anything to go on the glasses. We should be getting those back in about 5 days....we ordered them on Tuesday. So right now we are using the adhesive patch.

 

I figured the adhesive patch may work better for her.....if there's a patch that goes on the glasses, I figured that she may try to either look up or down or around the patch. That's what our doctor said too. I want to use whatever will have the best chance to help her eyes, even if that means the adhesive ones. So do your children not try to look around the patch that's on their glasses? We may have to get one and at least try it out.

[redheadeddaughter]

Oh, I feel for you! It's so hard to watch your child struggle through this. We've been doing the patching with our son since age 3 (plus surgiery). My experience:

1) The patching helped. Alot. At the beginning, I was starting to think the split personality in my sweet son was enough of a reason to stop. But the payoff, at least in our case, was huge. He still has to patch though. :( But at 7 he is taking it much better. Every year has been easier.

2) He gets strangely moody when he is wearing it. But he feels much much better if he can do it alone at the house and when he doesn't have to eat with it on. So we do it after school and around meals. I accommodate him here as much as possible (and I am not an accommodating mama usually, but I do it because...

3) I tried the patch on myself and tried to wear it for an hour with him. After 10 minutes I was miserable and had to peel it off. It's not easy. Awful really. So I try to give him a break in the attitude department a bit. It sounds to me like your daughter is taking it really well. That's a long time to patch. :( She is adorable! Big hugs!!!

[mommytobees]

She does not have her glasses yet, so we do not have anything to go on the glasses. We should be getting those back in about 5 days....we ordered them on Tuesday. So right now we are using the adhesive patch.

 

I figured the adhesive patch may work better for her.....if there's a patch that goes on the glasses, I figured that she may try to either look up or down or around the patch. That's what our doctor said too. I want to use whatever will have the best chance to help her eyes, even if that means the adhesive ones. So do your children not try to look around the patch that's on their glasses? We may have to get one and at least try it out.

 

Lori's first pair of glasses didn't come for 8 days after the day we ordered them (same day as her appointment). The Ped's Optho had me get her a pair of "play" glasses.

 

Lori's doctor addressed the same question (I asked) regarding the "look up or down or around the patch". He told me that yes, some children will look around it, however if the patch is designed correctly (like the little girl in the picture up thread---I looked for a picture of Lori with her patch,and couldn't find one) then they can't see much and it becomes "old". They stop trying to look around it.

 

The physical contact for the adhesive is as much of a distraction as the potential for "looking around" the patch.

 

Pull up the picture of the little girl with the patch. Lori's patch didn't go up or down as far, but that is neither here nor there. There is a HUGE HUGE physical difference between a flannel or cotton piece of fabric touching your face and adhesive plastic. Now, we can't see the side of her face, but Lori's patch slid over the arm of the glasses, so there was VERY little space to look the side on.

 

My daughter (now 9) just made another point as she walked past the computer (technically she just streaked past the computer after getting out of the shower) was a good point. She _remembers_ wearing her patch and had a love/hate relationship with it. She wore it while learning how to read. She just said:

 

"The eye you patch is the strong eye. You can't look around the patch for very long before it exhausts your eye. It just wasn't worth the hassle."

 

Kris

[i.love.lucy]

Just an FYI, you can get some "play" glasses at Claire's. They are cute and have clear glass in them. My dd got some as an accessory. I think they were only about $8 and might work in the couple of days you are still waiting for her glasses to come in.

:grouphug:

[Amber in AUS]

My DD did try and look around her patch in the beginning but that didn't last long. Her patch raps right around the wing of her glasses and she would try and look through the nose piece. It was so much trouble to try and look that way that she stopped after only a few days.

 

Our opthamologist recommended making a cardboard pirate patch with elastic over any kind of adhesive patch while we were waiting for her glasses to arrive originally. It was quite fun to make and we put little stickers etc on.

 

I did find that my DD was different when she was wearing her patch but that was because she couldn't see! Your DD is using her weak eye which she isn't used to doing. Imagine having to using your non dominant hand for every task for a few hours. You'd probably be reserved and not want to participate either. You'd wait it out and then hop to it once your other hand was free again.

 

I think once she has her glasses it will make a difference too. Because that eye will suddenly see better than it has before even though it is weaker.

 

One thing to watch is that she might be quite clumsy when she is patching. We found for our DD she would walk into things and drop things because she lost her depth perception with the patch on. We are 3 years into patching now with no respite in sight. On the upside her eyes are only 2 lines apart on the chart, the closest they have ever been!

[elise1mds]

"The eye you patch is the strong eye. You can't look around the patch for very long before it exhausts your eye. It just wasn't worth the hassle."

 

Kris

 

That was what we discovered with our son, too. He was 2 when he had to get his eye patched. Our problem was that the patch didn't wind up solving the problem and he wound up having to have surgery shortly before he turned 3. He didn't need the patch afterwards and was more than happy to get rid of it. We kept the glasses, but he pitched the patch!

[WishboneDawn]

I figured the adhesive patch may work better for her.....if there's a patch that goes on the glasses, I figured that she may try to either look up or down or around the patch. That's what our doctor said too. I want to use whatever will have the best chance to help her eyes, even if that means the adhesive ones. So do your children not try to look around the patch that's on their glasses? We may have to get one and at least try it out.

 

My daughter had to wear one constantly for about a year or so. I don't remember her trying to see around it and frankly, if they're wearing it or extended periods it must get tiresome to keep trying to peek around it rather then just go with the flow.

 

I think I'd try the slip on ones. Let her choose one she likes or even get a plain one and have some fun time together embellishing it when you get home. There was definitely a point with my daughter when it just became part of her and she was a little sad when the patching was done and she had to put her patches away.

[ChristusG]

Sounds like I need to get the kind that goes over the glasses! I'll be doing that just as soon as her glasses come in. I would go ahead and order them (from the ebay link that someone provided....thanks so much!) but I have to measure her glasses to get the right fit. DD3 loves Ariel, so maybe if I can order one from there that has Ariel, she will be more willing to wear it.....and maybe having the non-adhesive will cause my sweet girl to come back.

 

So Claire's has glasses with clear lenses? I think I'll stop by there today and check them out. Even if I don't get them for my 3 year old, I may pick up a pair for my 6 year old who is crying and complaining that she's the only one in our little family that does not wear glasses LOL. She wants to wear them so bad....I told her that it is definitely not as fun as it looks.

 

And wow, I didn't realize that patching could go on for years and years. Gosh, I don't know how ya'll do it. I didn't even think to ask DD's doctor how long she thinks we may be patching. She has another appointment in two months to check for any progress so I'll ask her then.

 

Thanks so much for all the replies! It really helps to know that we are not "alone" in this doing this.

[mom2att]

I think once she has her glasses it will make a difference too. Because that eye will suddenly see better than it has before even though it is weaker.

 

 

I agree with this. My dd was 2.5 when she got her glasses, and actually looked around the room and smiled the first time we put them on her. We took her to the mall to walk around right after and she was a changed kid--just walked along holding our hands and looking around because she could see things she'd never seen before (and it's not like we'd never been to the mall!).

 

Here's hoping that once your dd has her glasses, patching will be much easier! It really won't be so bad once she gets used to it.

[stripe]

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http://198.170.234.66/discus/messages/20/20.html

[kewb]

I had to wear the patch as a child. I am in my 40's and can still remember the feeling and sounds of my eyelashes scraping against that patch. *Shudder* It is quite possible the personality change is due to her unhappiness at having to wear the patch and the fact that she has to use her weak eye. The situation will likely improve once she gets her glasses.

[Kfamily]

My 7 year old dd has been wearing one since she was 5. She wore the adhesive patch at first and absolutely had a personality change. She was very withdrawn. The adhesive patch is hard to wear since it seals her eye shut forcing the eyelid down (which is an awkward feeling)! We very quickly found a patch to wear on her glasses. When we put that one on she literally ran outside and spun circles with her arms outstretched. It was hard for all of us. The patch that she wears on her glasses allows her eyelid to be open but her vision still blocked. Our dd sees a pediatric eye doctor and he has told us that the vision cements around age 9 and that this half a day patching will go on until then.

 

Our doctor has been very pleased with our patch and she has had many check-ups since age 5. She is compliant and the patch on her glasses has been fine for her.

[Mabeline]

The fabric patches that go on the glasses usually have little flaps that will go all the way around the eye so they cannot peak around the patch. There are several different kinds. Some even go over the glasses and some that go under the glasses, I found the one that go under the glasses are less bulky. Google fabric patches and you will find several different stores selling fabric patches. I really like them a lot better than the sticky ones, because when we started patching my little guy was only about a year old and the patch would take off some skin with it and after a few days it was reallly raw. I have even made my own patches, I have found that fleece works really well because it is soft and easy to sew. My sons eye doctor was really impressed when he saw ds eye patches. HTH

[BikeBookBread]

The fabric patches that go on the glasses usually have little flaps that will go all the way around the eye so they cannot peak around the patch. There are several different kinds. Some even go over the glasses and some that go under the glasses, I found the one that go under the glasses are less bulky. Google fabric patches and you will find several different stores selling fabric patches. I really like them a lot better than the sticky ones, because when we started patching my little guy was only about a year old and the patch would take off some skin with it and after a few days it was reallly raw. I have even made my own patches, I have found that fleece works really well because it is soft and easy to sew. My sons eye doctor was really impressed when he saw ds eye patches. HTH

 

I bought these on eBay...we ended up doing atropine because of the migraine issue, but she liked them while she had to wear them...

[WishboneDawn]

And wow, I didn't realize that patching could go on for years and years. Gosh, I don't know how ya'll do it.

 

It's just not that bad, especially if a child is never without the patch. It stays on the glasses and comes off only when she takes her glasses off for the night. As I said it become such a normal part of life that Catherine was a little sad when it all came to an end.

 

It might be worth asking to see if you can go that route with your daughter - leaving the patch on ALL the time.

[sarawatsonim]

If you are concerned about the peeking thing (my daughter peeked). My opthamologist suggested a handheld game or another form of close, concentration activities to distract her into not peeking for a period of time. We got her a Nintendo DS and for the duration of playing it she never peeks. The same works with computer games and colouring.

[MeganW]

We are patching one child's eye. She has one eye that is significantly worse than the other, and her brain had stopped using that eye at all. We started in January, and at our March checkup, she could read TWO lines smaller on the eyechart than she had been able to previously. So it's definitely working!

 

She HAAAATED it in the beginning. She was extremely clumsy, couldn't manage to do anything like eating or coloring that she was used to doing, etc. She has worked through those issues for the most part.

 

The first week was the worst, the second was slightly bad, and after that, until recently, she didn't care at all. In fact, she enjoyed picking out the patch each day (we have the ones with various patterns). Once the weather got really hot, she started disliking the patch again. We are now trying to time the hours she needs to wear it so that she doesn't have it on during outside-play time.

 

We were told that she would need it until her vision quit improving, then off and on again until she was 9 or 10 years old.