alternate patching

amother

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 7:22 pm

Has anyone had to do alternate patching for eye problems?

clowny

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 8:11 pm

Yes.

losingweight

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 8:12 pm

Yes. My mom needed to do that for my brother and sister.

amother

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 8:19 pm

Just curious how old they wer and for how long. DD is 5 and I'm worried she'll object or even worse, go for it but then get made fun of

losingweight

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 8:22 pm

My daughter also needed patching for a year on one eye only. I got her the cute colorful ones. We made a big deal of choosing one and also got the teachers involved (she was 4). She wore the patches with pride and baruch hashem they really worked! It also helped that her teacher had sibs that wore patches and she knew how to deal with it. Btw, some insurances cover patches.

clowny

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 8:24 pm

My dd is 6 and she has been using the patches for almost 3 year now. She never gave me a hard time and b"h had nobody that made fun of her. I hope the same goes with your daughter.

BTW, may I ask for what reason she has to wear the patch? Im not yet done with her problem and Im looking to hear from others.

amother

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 8:29 pm

Great, thanks. One of her good friends wears glasses so maybe it will be even "cool".
It's called exotropia. Her eyes drift a bit outward. Like, one will be looking straight but the other is a bit off to the side.

chocolate moose

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 8:55 pm

What do you mean by "alternate"? DD wore a patch from age 2 until age NINE.

Blueberry Muffin

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 8:55 pm

amother wrote:

My son is 3 yrs old and has the same condition -
The dr. wants us to alternate patching for 10 weeks to see if any improvement is made an d see if the muscles get stronger to work together.

(A GREAT HINT he gave me to remember which eye to patch - even days of the month =right eye, odd days of the month = left eye)

We call it a patch at home - his preschool teacher calls it a sticker.
he didnt mind wearing it that much in the beginging - either at home or in school, but now its about 7-8 weeks into it and he is starting to gove me a hard time wearing it, He should be wearing it for 2-3 hours a day on one eye.

the first week I gave him a new little car every day, then he was fine wearing it - and he has a special chart at home that he needs to complete to get a prize.

I have a friend that did not want her daughter to wear it in public if she was uncomfterble and only wore it at home.

I bought the patches from the eye dr. =- they have cute boythemes on it - balls, cars, trucks, camaflage - ironically - I least like the pirate theme!!! hahaha - but I let him wear it anyways....

the world's best mom

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 10:08 pm

I used to wear a patch, from kindergarten until I was in 4th or 5th grade. I got used to it and my classmates didn't comment because it was always there. The sticky patches irritated my skin though, so I switched to a pirate patch, on a string. But I always wore it on the same eye. I had a lazy eye.

SingALong

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 11:17 pm

dd wore a patch by age 2 but then had surgery for the lazy eye since the patch didnt really work. we picke dout cute ones iwth designs.

4 years later the eye got lazy again and before trying surgery dr wants to do patching method. however, since she is older, he gave us drops instead that blurred her vision in that eye. he preferred not using the patch since by age 6 these things matter socially. even though I did try the patch sometimes, she always opened it a crack to see out so it really wasn't effective.

triLcat

Wed, Dec 22 2010, 6:25 am

As a kid, I patched for 4 hours a day, 6 days a week for lazy eye. I did it from the time I got home from school until I went to sleep. A few of my friends in the neighborhood saw me with it, but I didn't have to wear it at school, and I didn't wear it on Friday nights, so I could look "normal" at shul. I would check if 4 hours a day is enough, because it's much easier if they don't have to wear it at school.

Blueberry Muffin

Wed, Dec 22 2010, 8:40 am

For those of you that ended up needing to correct the problem surgically - how long was the healing process?
Was your child in any discomfort?
How quickly did you see results?