little four eyes

First, apologies for not updating the site or answering emails this week, my grandmother passed away unexpectedly and we were with family.  There should be a lot of updates and additions to the photo gallery coming in the next couple of days.

I’ve noticed that recently we’ve gotten a lot more questions about whether Zoe’s glasses are “real.”  I guess now that she’s old enough to choose her own outfits, it’s possible that she might want to wear glasses that do nothing for her.  Then on our train trip out to see my family I had two different people ask me if Zoe’s temporary tattoo of a dog driving a firetruck was real!  And I realize that silly comments are absolutely not limited to kids wearing glasses.

Welcome to our patch challenge- WEEK 1.  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.

I recently e-mailed all the companies that made patches for little kids that I could find and asked them if they wanted to participate in my patch study.  Since Elly refuses to keep a patch on and has fought “patching time” for over a year, I am now on the quest for a PERFECT PATCH! 

Most of the company’s that sell kids patches are family stores created because someone special in their life has Amblyiopia.  Every company that I have written to or spoken with on the phone has been absolutely delightful to work with and genuinely care about kids with vision issues.  No matter which patch works best for us, I would highly recommend all of them for their level for their customer service!

This week we tried the MYI patches from

The Fresnel Prism and Lens Co. 
6824 Washington Ave S.
Eden Prairie, MN 55344 USA
 
800-544-4760 toll free
952-496-0432 phone
952-403-7900 fax

www.myipatches.com

Cost: $15.00 per pack of 51 patches – you choose 3 designs per pack.Shipping in US by Priority Mail – 2-3 days for delivery – $6.75 for shipping 1-6 packs of patches

Ratings given 1-5 for the following criteria. 

1 Doesn’t meet my expectations, 5 Exceeds my expectations

Cuteness Factor           5

Durability                      4

Full Eye Occlusion        5

Performs with sweat     4 *      

Patching Support          3

Reusable                      NO

*Elly was running at the park and it was 80 degrees.  She was working up a sweat, but the patch stayed on for 90 minutes.

Total patching hours for the week (Goal 14), Actual = 13 hours

Elly’s response: “Ooooohhhhh, bright colors!”

Mom’s response:         

“They sent 10 patches of regular size and 10 of the smaller size. I laughed because Elly went through more than 100 patches in a week of a different brand of “peel and stick” patches. We made it through, but used all 20. =)   (Once undone, they don’t re-stick.)  I think it was because the designs were really bright and cute and she LOVED picking out which one she wanted to wear.  If you are using another brand of stick-on patches, I would highly recommend you try these to add some cute patching choices.  It may help motivate your child to keep the patch on longer.  I know it helped mine!  The inside of the patch is black and I know it did a really good job of occluding her vision, because there were many times during the week she would cry to take the patch off because she couldn’t see. There was only one time that her skin became irritated and red after removing the patch – maybe she pulled it off too quick?  I also really liked the smaller junior size with Elly because the glasses seemed to sit better on her face and bothered her less.  I just wish they were not so much $$$ or that our insurance would cover it.  The way we go through them, it would cost us around $30 per month at $360 per year for patches.

I got this email question the other day from Lisa (I’m a little behind on getting through my emails):

Do any parents whose children wear their glasses full time allow their children to nap with them on? My nearsighted 3-year-old is still in a crib and takes naps some of the time. However, often he just likes to sing or talk to himself, and I am fine with that so long as he is resting and I get a little break. But he can only see clearly a few inches in front of his face, so I am wondering if he’d be less likely to fight this “rest time” if I just let him have his glasses (the backup pair of course, in case he breaks them, but he hasn’t broken a single pair in two years).

It got me wondering about which activities you leave your child’s glasses on for, and when you take them off.  We haven’t had a poll in a while, so here goes (the question is if you leave them on for any of the listed activities):

Are there other times you take your child’s glasses off?

In my quest for a perfect patch, I have been introduced to Camille at www.framehuggers.com. Her patch will be featured on one of my future Friday postings. She asked if I wanted to try out a head strap to help keep Elly’s glasses on as well. Thankfully, this is probably the only thing we don’t have issues with, but I know that there are some parents on the site with kids who’s glasses slip. She asked me to post the following as she wants to get parents input and offer a free headstrap to those who will use it.

“Are you frustrated with the battle of keeping your child’s glasses from slipping? You take your child to get the frame adjusted to realize an hour later that their ears hurt but if loosened any … your back to the slide. There may be a solution to help. Camille wants to hear from you…please call 208-860-7237 to request a FREE new eye glasses retainer (head strap) that may resolve your concern. She has many years working as a certified ophthalmic assistant in pediatric ophthalmology and as an optician as well. She had already helped thousands of patients with their patching needs (see www.framehuggers.com) but she is now looking to get honest feedback from parents interest in trying her latest idea; whether you child patches or not. She believes strongly in testing products and altering it when needed before selling them to her customers. She will be giving away eyeglass retainers to the first 24 parents who contact her. She is also interested in hearing from any parents out there that have tried the head retainer from www.inconspecuous.com.au to see if this is another item she may want to stock. You can also reach her by email at camille@framehuggers.com Thank you!”

Camille Workman

Owner/Designer/Seamstress

www.framehuggers.com

208-860-7237 or toll free 877-327-7225 M-F 9-5pm (PST)

This question comes from Nicole, whose daughter Penny is 3 months old and has cataracts and possibly strabismus.  -Ann Z

With the possibility that Penny might have strabismus, I’ve been reading a bit more about. I’ve been reading about alot of under-1-year-olds that have been patching until they are 6 or even older. Has anyone ever had relatively immediate success with patching, or is it strictly a long-term treatment? What is the shortest amount of time anyone has had to patch, and have it be successful?

• New links to the resources page – the Wisconsin Families of Visually Impaired Children (WIFVI) and a link to Nicole’s blog “Carrots make you go blind?!?!” about her baby daughter Penny who has bilateral cataracts.  If anyone else has a blog you’d like me to add, please let me know!
• Guide to strabismus surgery – The Children’s Eye Foundation has written a fantastic guide that I would recommend to anyone who is facing the possibility.  The guide talks about when surgery is appropriate (in the majority of the cases, it is not), what the surgery entails, risks, and information about the recovery.
• Calendar contest - Speaking of the Children’s Eye Foundation, keep on voting in the photo contest.  There’s still more than 2 months left, and a new photo (Penny) should be showing up soon.
• Pediatric vision test – I received a comment about a new test, Enfant Pediatric VEP Vision Testing System, that can be done at a pediatrician’s office to test pre-verbal children for vision deficits.  You can read more here.

I have decided to take this patching challenge on in full force.  At the last visit PO that my daughters vision was worse (they did tell me this could happen and it was ok, but I am still worried) and that we needed to use atropine drops AND patch at least 2 hours a day.  We have tried several adhesive patches from 2 different brands, only to go through 20-50 patches a week.  CRAZY.  She has eaten them, thrown them away, hid them, crumpled them, cut them into many pieces and much more.  We’ve tried the patching princess, a patching tree, even bribing for candy and toy rewards.  Needless to say, we have been very unsuccessful at patching.

This site has been a great form of encouragement for us.  Last week, Corrie had made a comment, “Yes!!! I think we as mothers of toddlers in glasses should go into the researching business!” And that got me thinking.  This week I wrote to all the companies that offer patches to young children.  Elly and I are going to try each one for 1 week.  We are going to take pictures and report back to you of our successes.  So far, 7 companies will be participating and I am very excited to find the “dream” patch that will stay on and occlude her vision and help us reach our vision goals.

In addition to the length of time that we are able to keep these patches on, what other aspects of each patch would you like to know more about?

A few people have posted that they have used Zenni in the past.  Since Elly is so light sensitive and we live in the “Sunshine State,”  I wanted to get her actual sunglasses for the millions of hours we spend outside.  2 nights ago we picked and ordered a cute pink pair.  This is the notice I got in my e-mail box this morning.   Should I tell them to go ahead and fill them?  Is there some lens part I can change (pay more) to have the glasses be more balanced in weight?  I’d love your help!

“Before processing your order further, we need to clarify something in your order. The Spherical values for the OD (right eye) -6.50 and for the OS (left eye) 0 are quite imbalanced. So would you please tell us if you have vision in your left eye? If not, we can process the left lens as a balance one in order to have the two lenses match in appearance and weight.

So you are advised to scan and email your original prescription including the PD to us for verification. And if you confirm that the Sph values are correct, we have to tell you that the right lens will be much thicker and heavier than the left one for your glasses. So would you like to go on with this order?

Please email us your confirmation so we may proceed with your order.

Thank you for selecting Zenni Optical for your vision needs. “

Tanya posted this question in the archives and I wanted to re-post it here to see if anyone else has run in to this particular problem when their child first started out with glasses for nearsightedness.  -Ann Z

My son is 4 and we had no idea he has any problem with his vision. He was tested at school and we recvd a letter suggesting we have further testing. Well we did and were shocked with the news that he was near-sighted and dbl stig. Stunned I demanded a second opn and was told pretty much the same thing. However the Dr said we should gradually increase the lenses. We got his first pair today and he says he sees double and doesnt want to keep them on…. what do we do?

Here are some more activities to do when patching.

For Babies:

• Put a mobile or pictures that contrast with the ceiling and wall
• Play with bold colored blocks with patterns
• For tummy time, use a solid-colored blanket that contrasts with play toys

For Toddlers:

• Memory Game – limit the choices based on the age, we sill just do 6 cards
• Hi-Ho Cherry Oh game – I like the Target version with 4 different color fruit as we end up sorting the little fruit to their matching tree
• With Pony Beads (found at most craft stores) or Color Cheerios
  
  1. Stringing beads on a bright colored nylon thread
  2. Sorting by colors into muffin tins
  3. Putting on pipe cleaners to make a rainbow
  4. Picking them up from the floor after they fall =)

• Feather flying party – we had a blast throwing, blowing and trying to catch feathers
• Practice drawing or copying basic shapes using Black Felt Tip Pens
• Make a whole bunch of little circles on a piece of paper and have them put a sticker on each circle

And as always, please add what you are doing with your little ones! It sure makes the patching time go by faster when I have new activities!!!!