Eye Patch for a Six Year Old

My son had to wear a patch on and off from the time he was 7 months old until about 4 or 5 years. The patch only worked when he was younger. The doctor then gave some eye drops to dilate his eye which is the same idea. 7 or 8 is the longest in which they will usually do eye therapy because after that it is not usefull, the eye is doing what it will do for the rest of their life. See if the doctor will give eye drops. It only takes one drop and lasts long enough for the therapy to work.

Hi there-

My son also started patching at around 4 years of age. It was very difficult especially since he was legally blind in his right eye. We had to patch his left eye which left him with virtually no vision when we started. It was very difficult but we stuck with it and we got immediate results. The better his eyes got, the more compliant we got. We tried all of the sticky patches but finally found patches from www.framehuggers.com. They are the best out there. They are made to fit the glasses and are durable. Is this what you have?

We started my son on 4 hours a day and just worked from there. We just didn't give in and it worked. He hated it, don't get me wrong but he did it. Today, over a year later, his vision has improved significantly and we are optimistic that it will get even better. They say that they have until 7 or 8 to get this corrected so I hope that you guys find a way to get through it.

I am happy to talk further if you have specific questions. Feel free to write: ____@____.com

Good luck. I know it's tough.
N.

Find some way to make him do it. My dad didn't make me wear my patch and now my vision is terrible in the eye that needed therapy. No kid wants to wear a bandaid over the lens of their glasses, we will find a way to look around the bandaid by turning our head! Not very effective. I think would have worn a pirate patch. You could get him involved by buying a plain black patch and doing an oil painting on it, maybe paint a scary eyeball on it.

hi karen, my daughter started needing a patch at 6 last year and wasnt real excited about it. i first tried the "pirate" cover... not even knowing there was a glasses alternative to cover one lens.... the pirate one was a DISASTER.. she hated the way it felt, it was awful. when idiscovered online about the felt covers for the lenses, it was a huge relief. i dont agree with the other responder who recommended the pirate one, if you get the cover that covers peripheral on the sides and the entire lens, like ours does..... it is fine for what you need. i started by letting my daughter pick hers out herself, there was a seller on ebay that makes them and has almost any look imaginable.... she picked her pink hannah montana and was actually looking for it in the mail.. so that started out helping already. the other thing we did was put it on while she would do something she reallly liked to do, for her it was art and coloring... we were only told to try an hour a day, but that time flew by for us when she was really interested in the activity... i think it would be annoying to try to be too active with only one eye avaialble so i would ask him to wear it for TV for a little while, or play-dough, coloring and see how long you can get him with it on... also i felt like my daughter was old enough understand that if she wore it for the short spurts NOW, she might not have to wear it at all in a few months... and that it was getting her weak eye strong and she really didnt have a choice... but i would start by letting him pick one out that he really likes. if you want the place i ordered from, email me... good luck ____@____.com
T.

What about the eye doctor's office, don't they have any ideas? If it's a pediatric eye dr., they should be able to help you out. If they are useless, I would call the Wheaton Eye Clinic and ask for the pediatric department and tell them you are having problems and ask for suggestions. We've gotten glasses there before without seeing their eye doctor and they are so helpful.

My sister went through this and she didn't stick with it and my parents didn't force it and now she has problems. So tough it out. Bribery could work well, some candy after the time is up could do it. You can't bribe for everything, but this is serious stuff.

M.

I don't have this but just an idea. You say that you use something to cover the one lens of his glasses. If he has good peripheral vision-able to look far to the sides-this may really bother him. I cannot stand glasses because of the difference in peripheral vision versus looking forward through the glasses. He may not like the parts that he can see above and around the frame of the glasses. It may seem like something is coming at him, at least for a child his age. Don't give up though. My sister refused to use a patch for my niece and my niece once said she wishes her mom had used it, regardless of how others would tease her. Maybe you could make a game of pirate for an hour at a time.

My daughter also refused to wear the patch. Our eye doctor perscribed drops to dilate her good eye instead. Don't recall the name of the drops, but had wonderful results with that. Good luck.

Karen, I am not sure exactly what eye patch therapy is. but having had a serious eye condition that required my eye to be covered for a while thought I would weigh in here. If your trying to do the cover one lense but not the actual eye thats hard to do. you still see little bits of stuff out of the corner of your eye and it seems like something is always flying at you. Better to get an actual patch that covers the whole eye (think pirate patch here) you can get them at the pharmacy. I got mine at jewel / osco. make sure the elastic is very comfortable. nothing worse than too tight elastic pulling at your head. he may be more likely to do it if he thinks it looks cool. maybe get him a video or book with cool pirates. veggie tales has a pirate movie. just a thought but i know there is no way i could have covered a lense without the whole eye good luck