Charlotte’s
eye has started to become a little googly — slightly ‘lazy.’
Hopefully a temporary eye patch over her stronger eye will force her
uncovered eye to get with the program. So, here’s one project that’s
never crossed my mind before — a custom, girly eye patch. Why not?
The rigid interfacing inside the patch is darted to bulge in the
middle. Then the fabric covering is cut on the bias so I could stretch
it over the form smoothly without darting it. Then there’s a black
fabric lining the inside. Not that you’ll ever want to make an eye patch.
Who knows if she’ll even keep it on. But it has given us all the
giggles a few times over — and kept things light. Anyone have some
good advice for this sort of thing?
My son wore a patch for about 6 months. We used the adhesive patches so that he didn’t keep lifting it up – he was about 4. The most important thing was to not make a big deal about it – if people asked him about it then he didn’t want to wear it. So we all just played it cool and he’d forget about it. Hers is adorable, but if she plays with it or doesn’t like the attention then you may want to try the adhesive kind.
After patching, his eyesight has stayed strong. He wears glasses, but he is correctable to 20/20 in both eyes. It’s so important to do it if she needs it. Good luck!
I don’t know Heather…Charlotte looks like a little trendsetter with her adorable eye patch! All her friends might want one!
Seriously, the cuteness and ingenuity can’t be put into words!
we’ve had patches in our family. i wore one starting 2nd grade for a couple years, and I’ve had 2 kids (both boys) wear patches for lazy eyes. i think you’ve come up with a great idea to make it fun. my mom used to send my son (who started wearing a patch at 2 years old) stickers to put on the patch. how many hours of the day does she wear it?
She makes a lovely pirate! 🙂 What a fabulous creation!
What a lovely and thoughtful way to help Charlotte feel cute and girly.
I think that is such a wonderful idea! I hope Charlotte’s eye improves quickly, though!
That is awesome! I feel like making one just because it is so cute!
What a lovely and thoughtful way to help Charlotte feel cute and girly.
What a great idea. My 5 year old daughter also has a slight “lazy eye”. My doctor is having us use an eye drop in her good eye to dilate it instead of using a patch. Maybe you could look into that if your daughter doesn’t want to wear the patch.
I am tempted my daghter ned sa daily plaster but I am pretty sure she will play peek a boo with this one.. It is great for a pirate princess too 😉
Ha- very inventive and creative!!! Sweet little thing.
Brilliant. My daughter had to patch for four years, but it worked! We had some ugly awful felt patch. Yours is far cuter.
I can’t offer any advice, but way to make a girl feel special! That’s so sweet.
I had to wear an eye patch for a little while when I was a kid, thanks to a run-in with a cranky magpie, and all I had was a slab of cottony stuff slapped to my face! I think something like this would have made it a much better experience!
I had to wear the adhesive kind for awhile when I was about 8 or so. This is adorable! My concern, though, is that her eye can still open under the patch? If that’s the case then it will make the situation more difficult for her eyes. Perhaps an adhsive underneath the amazing one?
Oh how adorable! My husband has a lazy eye and had to wear an eyepatch when he was little. I’ve been wondering if my son will have to do the same when he gets a little older. I’ll have to make him a boyish one inspired by yours if he does!
I just had to comment on this. I LOVE IT. My 4 year old has strabismus as well and wears patches every day. She would absolutely love this. Are you having trouble with her keeping it on? We just made it seem super cool and my daughter usually wears it with no problem. So so cute.
i wore an eye patch for a little while as a little girl. (i have duane’s retraction syndrome in my left eye and can’t help but link to this post to give you a bit more information about how parents can make such the difference and how people do not notice my eye “problem” because of the steps my parents took…just like you are doing: http://bepresentbehere.blogspot.com/2006/02/spt-me-who-is-pirate.html)
my mother sewed little daisies on my eye patch. earlier this year we came across a few of those daisies in her sewing box. i feel so proud of that young mother who was scared about what was going on with my eye but wanted to “keep things light” by sewing those daisies on those pirate patches.
one of my nephews has had to patch off and on for a few years now. they also use the adhesive kind, but he still hates to wear it. they have resorted to bribery (if you patch for xx days without complaint, you get xx). they live near tampa and are huge bucs fans, so i bet if i made him a bucs-style patch like your’s, he’d like it a lot better! 🙂
sorry to post twice, but in my previous comment the parenthesis became part of the blog link, so please visit this link: http://bepresentbehere.blogspot.com/2006/02/spt-me-who-is-pirate.html
My daughter Jordan (5 1/2) has Down Syndrome. She had strabismus in both eyes as an infant. We tried patching her but no luck. Nor would she tolerate glasses. So, she had two minor corrective eye surgeries and now she is fine.
I love this! I lost the central vision in my left eye and I put an eye patch on when I need to do any heavy reading. You’ve inspired me to try making my own.
That is the cutest eye patch I have ever seen! 🙂
My sister had to do the same thing with my niece…works well! Good luck and the patch is way too cute for words!!!
My daughter had vision therapy when she was young to correct a problem…not exactly the same as yours…but I was wondering if your opthamologist uses therapy as well. It seems to be something that is gaining in awareness and was certainly successful for us. Otherwise, cute patch, hope she continues to like it!
I wish I had one when I was little! Way to take your creativity and apply it in unique ways!
That is super, super cute! You’re so clever, Heather!
Oh such a great idea. Bright colors and a butterfly make almost anything better!
So cute! My husband had to wear and eye patch when he was young for the same reason, but only when he was home from school. I’m sorry I have not tips for you, but just wanted to say that you’re such a fun mom! Love it!
When I went for kindergarten registration we found out that I have a cataract in my left eye, and was probably born with it. So when I started school I had to go in a black pirate patch, and I had to wear it on and off for my entire time in elementary school. Charlotte is so lucky to have such a beautiful patch!!!
What an awesome eyepatch! I bet you could sell those definately, my Mother and my brother both had lazy eyes, they patched my mom and now only when she is really tired is it noticeable.
Super super cute eye patch!
I had a moderate lazy eye and with years of patching, it is hardly noticeable. All I can say is that you have a fantastic solution to what can be an ugly situation. I wish my parents had done what you are doing for your daughter!
Hi Heather,
oh, what a great idea! I wish I had an eye patch like this when I had to wear them from age 1 to 3. Although my mother drew little sketches on the patches (they were band-aid like) they aren’t comparable.
I love the idea that Charlotte has now such a trendy ‘accessory’ to wear ;o)
Cheers, Julia
I’m sure it’s much sweeter for a little gal who has to wear an eye patch to wear a pretty one!
My 5-yr old daughter has been wearing a patch (and her glasses) for around five months now, and it has worked! I made some girly patches, and I reckon that people will really appreciate your beautiful example! It makes a difference. I’ve got some more info about the ones I made for her on my blog at http://thornberry.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/my-pirate-princess/ I think that you’ll be surprised at how many people respond to your post!
I think that is the cutest thing ever! You are so very clever.
Wow that is so Cool!
She looks so sweet. You are a fabulously inventive mother.
Charlotte you are so pretty.
I see a new accessorie craze starting with these.
My daughter wore one about 13 years ago and we had problems with her keeping it on too…..so we all wore one, including grandparents, aunties and uncles (we all lived next door to each other) but only when we were around her. Today at 16 she wears glasses and will for the rest of her life, but we don’t see her as being different.
Cute patch. We had to patch my 8 year olds eye for several years. He had glasses at 2. It is getting stronger thank goodness and no patching is needed now. We had something that would slip over his glasses.
I love yours! YOu should make some boy ones!
Okay, you’ve GOTTA market that! What a self-esteem booster that would be for so many little ones out there!
That is the cutest thing ever and totally inspiring to me. I was born with a lazy eye, had surgery for it at the age of a year and a half, when I finally learned to walk, and because a nurse neglected to tell my mother to come back in for therapy, it was all for naught. I now am mostly blind in my left eye because of it. Since then, my mother and I both researched things to help this out and I worry about it now because I’m pregnant and it’s genetic. The best thing one of THE best eye doctors in the country (based at UTMB in Galveston) told my mother a few years after I had my surgery was a simple excersize. All you do is put the patch on, grab a marble and a flat round baking pan. Rotate the marble around and have her follow it with her eye. I’m thinking those games that you have to move and rotate to get the ball in the hole would work marvelous.
I wore a patch off and on until I was ten and gave up when they told me I’d be blind in two years. I just wish I’d had one this cool!
Did you use wool or felt for your butterfly? And what kind of thread did you use for your stitching? Adorable.
I had a lazy eye and the patch was the worst. My dad spent hours with me finding the perfect “eye” out of a magazine to glue onto my patch. it looked so hilarious. I would have loved that patch – gorgeous!
I had a lazy eye as a child. It was ‘cured’ with hand/eye coordination exercises done on a daily basis one long hot summer. The ones I remember: jump rope and drawing large circles with both hands in opposite directions on a home made chalk board. I don’t have a lazy eye anymore.
Very cute eye patch too. Much more fun than a summer of ‘eye exercises’
I think an eye patch never looked so good!
My daughter doesn’t need to wear a patch but REALLY wants to now… How cute and fab job =D
No ideas for this but I LOVE the girly eye patch! I bet she will come closer to wearing this over a “plain” one anyday!
That patch is absolutely adorable!! I love it.
My daughter has a lazy eye as well and was able to avoid the eye patch because of the glasses the doctor gave her. I’m sure she would have LOVED to wear a patch like this! Maybe make her a couple of them so that she has some variety. The patch reminds me of a character from a TV show called “Pushing Daisies.” It makes me giggle and feel very happy. (Both the eye patch and the TV show)
Good job on making something fun. You are an awesome Mom.
My niece had the same thing. Her vision was 20/2200 in her one eye when they discovered the “lazy eye”. She was considered legally blind because of it.
She wore a patch for almost a year. Nothing as adorable as that though. She wore the adhesive variety as well as the piratey looking variety. She was very good natured about it, even though people (yes, even adults) stared at her wherever we went. The worst thing about the adhesive patches was that her very long eyelashes got all gooey. She is also fair skinned and freckles and the removal of the patch every day seemed to take away freckles in that patch of skin. Strange…
That was when she was 8 or so, she is now 15 (nearly 16!) and her vision is 20/60 in the lazy eye. I have to say the time wearing the patch made her more self-confident. She was shy before, but it seemed to make her stronger.
Good luck!
Hey Heather! You might ask (if possible) your grandmothers if they have “lazy eye”. I have Amblyopia and it’s a genetic eye disease that is passed down only through women and it nomally skips every other generation. My sister and I and all 4 of our girl cousins have one “lazy eye”. They all used to droop but after the patch and glasses for a time, the eyes adjusted and stillhave poor sight, but not longer droop to one side. As well my moms mom and her 3 sisters all had the same thing too. It’s worth looking into. Best of luck!
I don’t have any advice, but I LOVE the eye patch. My 2 year old loves Captain Feathersword but is also a girly girl. I cannot think of anything cuter to make for a girly girl pirate. I am going to try to make one. And I just bought some of your new fabric at my local Quilt Shop, I cannot think of anything cuter to work with. Love your work and love your blog.
My mom actually had to make a girly eyepatch for my sister…she is more of a grown up so it wasn’t quite this cute!! But you never know, this could become one of your most popular projects. hehe That said…I missed meeting you at Market, but I did get to meet your pincushions! SO gorgeous, even the bottoms! Don’t even get me started on the fabric!
If I was presented with the opportunity to wear such a stylish eyepatch, I fear I’d do everything within my power to ensure it became a permanent fixture. It’s brilliant!
I do hope it will accomplish its intended purpose, of course, but in the meantime Charlotte is quite the belle of the ball.
Haha, this is great! Aren’t all artists supposed to be a little nutty?!
My son Jackson has Amblyopia and I made him a very plain patch (in comparison) that slips over his glasses. He hated it the first few days, but both the glasses and the patch were new and he quickly got use to both. He patches 6 hours a day now per his doctor, but we don’t make him patch at school. It’s amazing how many adults stare or ask him what he did to his eye. But I am very proud of him when he calmly explains to them the reason he is patching. I think Charlotte’s patch is lovely!
This is so perfect i think many children would love to wear this cute litlle thing
Wonderful!!!
Love what you made for your daughter. I remember my sister having a lazy eye too and they put on a black sticker on her glasses. It looked terrible, so we as sisters always put some nice colorful stickers on it.
Once again, I love the color combinations you make :O)
oh, i can whitter on for hours on end about children’s eye sight and eye patches! my daughter has very poor eyesight which was first discovered by a lazy eye appearing when she was 18 months old she’s worn glasses ever since (she’s now 6), and last year, we began 9 months of patching. it really did help, with her glasses on, the difference in reading ability between each eye on the chart was 9 lines, her weaker eye was very much underperforming, after the patching, which was for 2 hours a day, the difference was then just 1 line, a huge improvement.
we were given sticky patches by the hospital, which kept peeling off, so i made her a felt patch which slipped over her glasses lense, and posted it as a tutorial on my blog, here,
http://lucykatecrafts.blogspot.com/2008/02/eye-patch-tutorial.html
this one was much more comfortable for her to wear, plus, at the time she was going through one of those phases where she would only wear pink!
Heather, you’ve made a difficult situation for your daughter a fun and fashionable one, kudos to you! The eye patch is adorable!
Renee
i think it’s sooo cool! i do cubsight with the lion’s club and this is one of the things we look for. amazingly, the first time i did it my daughter-in-law brought their baby for an eye check up for a cyst and the testing resulted in them catching a lazy eye problem that he may have in the future. he was only 6 months old!! technology is great! i think i’ll make him a pirate if he has to wear one.
Wow ! Many compliments! Ciao dall’Italia, elena
When we were kids, my older brother and I both had to wear eye patches. My brother was very self conscious about his and worried that the other kids would make fun of him. Always a quick thinker, my mother simply went to the drugstore, bought a few boxes of the disposable adhesive kind, and handed them out to all his friends, who were duly impressed and grateful. Voilà! Instant cool kid — just add eye patch.
Wish I’d seen this a couple months ago when I had surgery for a detached retina! I wore a patch for a few weeks out in public but my skin HATED the adhesives ones!!
It also would have been sweet last summer when my son was 4 months old and underwent enucleation of his right eye. He would’ve been too small to “play” with a patch like this, so we used the adhesives ones. Wish I were as creative as you!! It would’ve helped lighten the mood a LOT!
Little trend setter!
OMG! I had Bell’s Palsy while pregnant with my daughter, and if I’d had an eye patch this fun (or even THOUGHT of making one), I might not have been so afraid to go out in public! What a fantastic and beautiful solution.
I just think this is the sweetest, most thoughtful idea ever! This is what creativity is all about.
This is so adorable! What a great idea!
This is so adorable! What a great idea!
What a brilliant idea! Charlotte certainly looks happy enough to be wearing her custom-made patch. Soon, all the kids’ll want one =)
I love your patch! I had amblyopia as a child and I wish that I would have worn my patch. If I had, I wouldn’t wear glasses now. I have the strangest prescription. One eye has a corrective lens and the other is virtually clear (over my strong eye). I was diagnosed in 2nd grade and everyone made fun of the patch so I wouldn’t wear it Maybe if I had a butterfly pirate patch, I would would have. Great job, Mom!!
Heather, I loved your spread in the December CK! Very sweet projects!
Hi Heather,
My 25 year old Heidi had a lazy eye, when she was three. – She would have loved an adorable patch like this. She wore the patch, then the glasses then had surgery and never had a problem since.
Good luck to you Charlotte!
That is such a cute idea! I really love it!
Rocket Out!
Cool!
okay so this is a random comment and maybe you don’t read these and probably wouldn’t be able to get back. But I just had a friend whose daughter went through a similar thing as Charlotte a while back where she injured her mouth and had to have her baby teeth removed. She is all worried that her daughter won’t have teeth until she is four, but now in the picture Charlotte has teeth. So did her teeth come in early? And cute eye patch by the way, what a great way to make lemonade out of lemons! You’re such a great mom.
Thats so cute!!!
All I can say is: that’s a first for me! And very fashionable! Your daughter is a blessed little girl to have such a creative mom. Who thought you could make an eye patch fun, and maybe even cool…
Very beautiful! And a great idea too. The children I know with that kind of problem had to use an horrible piece of cotton on the glasses. They would be much happy with some patch like yours. I love it!
very cute!
We have always found Ortopads to be best (adhesive), but there is a tutorial for a great patch that must be worn with glasses, but looks pretty comfortable. I haven’t made one yet. Here’s the link. http://lucykatecrafts.blogspot.com/2008/02/eye-patch-tutorial.html BTW, the patching really does work, so don’t get discouraged!
I too wore an eyepatch as a youngun’ to correct my lazy eye. If only I had had one half as stylish!
How sweet this patch is 2 of my 4 sons had this same eye issue. The Opthomologist said it was called “Strabismus”?? It’s tru that by covering the one eye the other will get stronger. Although my husband and his grandma both have this same issue, who knows?? it may be inherited. Anyway the patch is adorable, I showed my 10 yr old son and now he wants me to make him a “boy” version of your little girls!!! funny although he wasn’t kidding, I better get stitching! thanks for the laugh ~ hope all gets well with your baby girl. 🙂
I made my DH an eyepatch, just the other night…we had 3 hrs of nighttime driving and since his retina repair surgery he had double and triple vision at night.(& I get sleepy) So during dinner, I made him a wool felt patch to slip over his glasses to cover his healing eye. I just happened to have some felt and thread for making some Christmas ornamants! I got the idea from Lara at Thornberry, she made one for her daughter.
You daughter looks adorable with her cute patch.
Way too cute on the punkin’. She will be right as rain in no time with the extra fun eye patch. She is such a lovely model. Even the pirate dress up gals will want one. She is such a cutie. Am I gushing….uh. more coffee! xoxo
We have recently discovered VISION THERAPY http://www.visiontherapy.org/. She was seeing a Dr. here in town.
Surgery was given as the only other option. It has improved her VISION and the lazy eye has improved.
a mama of your caliber may ask for advice, but i think you deserve a whole lotta praise. i say encourage her to do her eye patch wearing and maybe make her a piratey one when she is feeling grrrr about it.
Hi! Delurking to say, we have been down the “lazy eye” path…FIND SOMEONE IN YOUR AREA WHO DOES VISION THERAPY!
Sorry about the caps but we battled the amblyopia for several years…it would get better when we wore the patch, eye docs would tell us we could quit using the patch, go back for a recheck, eye bad again so use the patch again…repeated this cycle several times…the vision therapy provided the only solution. Optometrists (O.D.)are trained in these techniques, opthalmologists (M.D.) are not.
(FYI I’m not a “kooky anti established medicine” type gal, I’m an M.D. myself!)
good luck, the patch is adorable, btw, but I think it would have been too girly for my son…:-)
I am throwing in another recommendation for vision therapy. A lot of optometrists don’t use it, and (at least when I did it) it is not usually covered by vision plans. But it is really worth the money time and effort if the problem can be corrected that way. Sometimes the weak eye gets lazy partially because the brain does not know how to use both eyes simultaneously. Vision therapy retrains the brain to use information from both eyes.
Well she’s the cutest one-eyed girl I’ve ever seen. I hope it clears up on its own. I have heard that these things do.
My brother had a lazy eye when he was younger. He wore the adhesive eye patches because, well, he was a little boy and got into everything. I love looking back at pictures from that time and see him with the little patch. So precious now.
But I will say that if it doesn’t get better, please do not object to the surgery. My brother should have had it and still has problems now with it (23 years later).
That is seriously the most adorable eye patch I have ever seen!
Hi. I’m usually a blog lurker but had to comment. My son had eye surgery when he was 2 1/2 (he’s 5 now) and has to eye patch. There is a company called ortopad that makes adhesive eyepatches in all sorts of patterns (girly ones too) that make the process pretty painless. He has to patch for about 2 hours a day and they are cool enough for him to wear. The website will ship directly to your house. I think its something like ortopad.com.
Good luck.
Oh I think this is a great idea! Now she will feel pretty when she has her eye patch on. I think other little girls might want one, too!
Wow it’s so cute even without problems with my eyes i would wear it to it’s so nice…greetings tanja
I bet Charlotte doesn’t mind wearing an eye patch now. 🙂
Hey! They eyepatch is adorable! I know so many kids who have to wear one. That makes it so much more fun for the kid, not to mention, look at! But on a different note, I’m new to a lot of things on the net, including “flickr”… you have some pics on your blogspot for the double sided tote (which is adorable!)… is that just something someone made up or do you have a pattern for it? I love it! And want it! But am the instructions please kind of girl! thanks!
Ok, this is aweseome! My daughter had to wear a patch for convergence insufficiency and I never thought of making one for her. What a great way to turn an inconventience into bling!
I love it! I need to make some for my son’s birthday party, since I can’t find patches without skulls on them. Your design is perfect. Anna
What a fantastic idea. You should def. market these. When I worked in a pharmacy it was very hard for parents to get their children to be interested in the plain black eye patches. These would be much more appealing to them. 🙂
This would be such a sweet item to ask people to make and donate to hospitals, if you ever were able to make a pattern or a tutorial for it.
I’m an ophthalmologist and have never seen anything like this before. These are so much cuter than the ones you can buy. I’ll have to let my pediatric ophthalmologist friends know about your idea and hopefully some little patients will benefit. Whatever you have to do to get them to wear the patch!
Heather,
What a great idea!!! My niece had to wear eye patches for a number of years starting when whe was about 8 months old. She had severe crossed eyes. Something that helped us to keep it on was putting a patch on her favorite teddy. If teddy had his patch on she was much more willing to wear hers. Your creation looks way cooler than the adhesive ones.
This is sooo beautiful. My nephew had to wear something like that too, but nobody of us had such a wonderful idea!
Very good job!
Hey Heather!
It was so fun hanging with you at Market. You are totally my kind of girl:)
This post is so cute! I love the patch. My oldest had to wear one in 1st grade and it did help his weak eye get stronger.
With a patch that cute, she’ll be good in no time!
Chelsea
The comments are amazing! What a great community (and a beautiful little girl with that fancy eye patch)!
Here’s what is more amazing for me: I have Duane syndrome, but never knew that is was called that until reading the comments! And I didn’t think it was syndrome; my parents explained to me that I had congenital nerve damage and there was no treatment. So interesting!
Anyway, Heather, what a good mom you are. I wouldn’t expect the daughter of someone so creative to have anything less than that stylish eye patch.
How brilliant you are, as usual. It is so pretty!
Cute patch!!!
I had lazy eye when I was a kid…My mom made a patch for me out of a piece of elastic and a cotton hankie and believe it or not that is when I started to learn how to stitch. I was 4 years old and as an eye exercise, my mom bought me an embroidery hoop and a very easy stamp stitch kit for kids. I wore the patch and made X’s.
What a cute idea. I wish I had thought of that. It surely would have helped us have some fun during the days of worries.
My son wore a patch for about six months following a head trauma caused my a 8 foot fall. He ended up having surgery to weaken the opposing muscle, and everything is fine now.
omg, you have my vote for Mother of the Year. That is the cutest darn eye patch I ever did see!
Actually, I have an autistic daughter who is SUPPOSED to wear a patch for the same reason. But she has a meltdown and tears loosen the patch and it’s just been a disaster.
Would you consider drawing up the pattern?
I’m a little emotional right now…..but I cried seeing this post.
I have been through 9 years of eye problems with my oldest son, who has had surgeries, patching, vision therapy, etc….
and recently, my three year old daughter is having to patch….I would love to get one of these for her. She is so picky and oh how she would love it if it was girly and pink…she is such a girl!!!
I also wanted to tell you to look into behavioral opthamology, they do not give up on children even when patching doesn’t work.
best wishes~
What a great Mama you are! I love it!
Absolutely adorable eye patch! What a FAB idea!!!
Could you share where you found that cute pink mesh elastic? I’d LOVE to make my daughter one of these from the scraps left over from her baby sister’s Happy Stacker!
Hi Heather, love the patch!! I have two kids with a lazy eye. Find an excellent pediatric eye doctor. Mine also were far-sighted. They have never patched nor had surgery, but have been in glasses since we discovered this. My third daughter has none of this. We have to go to our dr. once a year for checks. Lots of kids have this. It is best to try and correct it when they are kids.
Best of luck to Charlotte, I hope things work out easily this beautiful natural way. I can’t think of a cuter eye covering ever, this one is lovely.
xo~Amelia
My niece has a lazy eye, I think if she had a patch like that she would have wore it more.
You are a very creative person…I saw you in HC Mag.& I found your blog by accident and am glad I did~
Can’t wait to read more…
Xo Kelly
My daughter loves the images you post on your blog too! She always asks me to make her things that she sees here. Your wonderful talents have such a huge appeal! Thanks for the perpetual delight!
~Emily in Norway
fabulous idea! i had to wear an eye patch last year, and ended up covering mine in rhinestones!
Ack! You’ve turned what could have been a real challenge into something pretty and whimsical! That’s got to raise her spirits, huh? Best of luck with the optical adjustment. You’re a wonderful mommy. 🙂
that is adorable! my son wears an eye patch for an eye that is crossing. he has gone through the adhesive ones and one that slides over his glasses (a patch pal that is much preferred!). He just had eye surgery to correct it, since the patch didn’t help much, but we still must patch to reinforce the surgery. He would love something like this in a boy theme! bribery worked well for us initially!
I wore a patch in kindergarten for the same thing. My patches were just giant adhesive like bandages. My creative mom drew pictures on them (butterflies, flowers, etc). 🙂 I eventually got glasses but I remember those patches. Now I have perfect sight in one eye and my “lazy” eye is still lazy but is stronger. It doesn’t drift or google, but I wear a contact in only that eye to force it to work.
I’m going to be traveling in the spring on several long airline flights. Would love to have an eye mask made like this so I can sleep!
For real, that is a fab idea. My niece, who is 6, needed an eye patch for a weak eye after brain surgery to remove a tumor. she had to be absolutely forced to wear an ugly ol’ black patch. You should market those.
skydol@roadrunner.com
My 9 year old daughter has had to patch, a couple hrs/day, for the past year. They used to say that at her age nothing could be done to help a lazy eye. Anyways, it has definitely helped!! Her doctor was so happy at her last appointment. Just so you know, it really does work. Now, she wants a pretty patch too. Thanks for the idea!
I wish you would make a pattern for this! I guess it wouldn’t be too difficult to figure out on my own. I have a friend who suffered from an AVM rupture several months ago…she is in recovery: learning to walk again, write again, talk…you name she is is fighting for it. She wears a patch occasionally. I am sure she would love a sassy grown up version! So cute!
Your daughter looks darling. I just read thru the posts and many people are mentioning ‘vision therapy’ – heck, I better check this out since my 5 yr. old has been wearing a patch daily for 3 yrs! And, this is thru our opthamologist. I can’t stress enough the patching or early correction…I am legally blind in one eye because my lazy eye wasn’t caught in time – they tried to put a patch on me at age 12 but the damage was already done by age 8. ‘Course, my eye never wandered so no one knew & I thought all the world saw fuzzy. I have very bad vision in my better eye & retina problems in both that cannot be corrected now. I think all children should have their eyes checked by a professional to detect problems that can be corrected.
You are an amazing and creative Mother — how lucky she is to have You! God Bless!
What a great eye patch! I remember the one that I had to wear when I was little. An ugly, scratchy black one!
okay…you’re the coolest mom ever!
No advice but I do love it! So much nicer than the usual eye patches you see 🙂
I love it! I have to say there is actually a market for things like this. There are so many kids out there who need fabulous accesories like this to make the other kids jealous. I almost wish I had to wear a patch too, this is so cute! I’m thinking of a friend who’s little daughter wears a battery for her cochlear implant. She had a fab belt designed by a friend.
Okay, you are Incredibly Cool. I love that you found a way to make an eyepatch make your sweet girl feel beautiful. And she is!!!
My 3 1/2 year old daughter has to wear one too. We use the adhesive ones, and she doesn’t like them. They catch her hair and she doesn’t like the “sticky part on (my) nose.” So what I’m wondering is can you make me one, and I’ll buy it off you???
Hi Heather — I think the eyepatch is adorable. When I was younger I had to wear one for a while and it didn’t occur to anyone to doll it up like that. If I never heard another pirate and parrot joke, it would be too soon.
I really like this! We have been patching my 2 year old’s eye for a month now, and those adhesives aren’t very sticky. Do you have a simple pattern you could post?? I would love to make this for her.
My daughter has been wearing one since February of 2007(she’s 4.)
The sticky ones to me are the best!!!
I bought the nice patterned ones with flowers on them, but she prefers the wal-mart plain skin toned ones-they do actually work the best and have survived many days at the beach.
You can also put contact paper on the inside of her glasses lens- and they might offer you an eye drop that you put in the eye once a day and it dialates the eye, it lasts 24 hours.
My daughter just prefers the ugly patch and wears it all day everyday.
she is amazing now she rarely complains about it.
Best of luck,
JOy
I would love to make that patch for my niece! Can you tell me how you did it? Its so pretty!
where in the world was this patch when i needed it 20 years ago!?
Awh… I had the same thing when I was a little girl. I can’t believe they are still using the patch over the good eye trick! Well that eye patch sure looks better than that itchy thing I had in the 70s!
how adorable is that. did she keep it on after all ?
Oh how I wish I had one of those when I was 7 years old, had dark rimmed glasses, a patch on one eye and slightly bucked teeth.
Not to worry, I’m waaaay cooler now—not! lol…
I love it!!
peace,
amy
Great eye patch!!! What a blessing you are to your children…HC
Hi Heather:
I also have Strabisums. When I was a little girl (six) my artist father made me eye-patches on which he drew a different SNOOPY character each day… once he did the Iyatollah Komani, but the teacher didn’t like that one and I got sent home with a note for my parents. We still laugh about that today. Your daughter will be just fine–and have a fabulous personality to boot. (If your daughter has to have surgery, look into San Francisco MD Susan Day, a protege of Dr. Arthur Jampolski, my doc., who was the best. -Not a nice guy, but the best eye surgeon in the world–literally).
Wow… that is absolutely adorable. My sister had to wear a patch when we were little and it was so horrible for her. I think this is an awesome idea. It would have helped so much to have a cute choice rather than a large looking bandaid over her eye glass.
I was laying in bed last night, thinking to myself. Somehow eye patches popped into my head (my train of thought is all over the place as soon as my head hits the pillow). So I started wondering if there were such thing as ‘designer’ eye patches – or if people just wore plain ones in the event that they needed an eye patch either temporarily or permanently. And now, I stumble upon your site, to see a pretty designed eye patch.
Very strange indeed.
I was laying in bed last night, thinking to myself. Somehow eye patches popped into my head (my train of thought is all over the place as soon as my head hits the pillow). So I started wondering if there were such thing as ‘designer’ eye patches – or if people just wore plain ones in the event that they needed an eye patch either temporarily or permanently. And now, I stumble upon your site, to see a pretty designed eye patch.
Very strange indeed.
Hi Lisa
I just came accross your post about your niece dx with amblyopia and 20/2200 vision. My son 6 has recently been dx with the same vision & we are patching. Just wanted to know how long she patched for & how many hrs/ day to get to 20/60. Thanks.
Sorry I believe the post is by Kat !
Dear Hester,
I am an opthalmologist.
May I use your daughter´s picture in one of my presentations?
She looks so cute with her butterfly patch!
Susanne
Hi Heather,
My almost four year old daughter has had strabismus (crossed eyes) since birth. She has worn a patch (when she was much younger and would keep it on, had two eye surgeries, glasses, and eye drops (to blur the dominant eye) so that her weak eye will get stronger.
From what I understand, when eyes start to get lazy later on it is much easier to fix. My own Goddaughter was caught at about 8-years-old, wore glasses for a full year and now her vision is near perfect.
I wish the best for your daughter! LOVE the patch!
It’s in our family too. I had it, but it wasn’t caught and I ended up without depth perception. We patched my daughter’s eye while she read for quite awhile (can’t remember how long!), but it worked! She has true depth perception! Good luck.
Can you not make it a double-sided patch so that you can wear it at nite to sleep in? Your design is so cute, it would make a cute eye mask.
What a cool idea – we love it!
Grins & Giggles for your weekend,
tp
Hello! are you interested into making one for money? I am more than happy to have couple made and buy from you. THey should be a slightly smaller, they’re for my Boxer that had to get her eye removed from being attacked by cat and ruptured her eyelens. (OWCH)
If so PLEASE let me know your daughter’s eye patch is sooo adorable, so couldnt help it!!
Thanks!! 🙂
My friend’s little girl has had a lazy eye for awhile, but it has started to wander the ophthalmologist has told her that she will need to wear a patch for a couple hours a day to help strengthen it. I remembered reading your post and thinking what a cute idea this was, and have been scanning the comments to see if you had given out further instructions. I would love to be able to make a cute patch for her little girl, but am not sure how to go about it… Did you ever post more on the “How To” of this super cute patch?
I love this idea! As a first grade teacher, and optometrist’s wife, I’ve seen many kiddos have to wear a patch for various reasons. I think I might make a bunch of these for him to give to his patients if they choose! I’ll have to think up some cute boy designs too!
Would you please please market these?? My 6 year old Lulu has been patched off and on for the past 5 years and will probably need it for a couple more. We have a cute felt patch that goes over her glasses, but we are ALWAYS looking for something fun and cute. Our opinion is, “if you have to wear it, make it great!”. Glasses, AFO (leg brace), etc. If you ever consider marketing this, I know you could have a wonderful business! Please consider it and let me be your first customer!
I had Bell’s Palsy and it caused my eye not to blink. I had to wear a mask while sleeping and driving. I was extremly embarrassed about it. I would have loved to wear a pretty patch!!
I know a creative lady who is looking for an eye patch after having eye surgery. Any good ideas?
Hey Heather! Yes, your daughter looks beautiful even with the patch on. I am in the same situation with my daughter Thea (4 and a half). Wish I had a similar patch for her. Any way I could buy one online from your website?
I see this is an old post, I hope your beauty’s eyes corrected meanwhile. Let me know please.
Regards!
I LOVE THIS! It’s such an incredibly creative idea, and absolutely adorable!!! My niece is supposed to wear an eye patch, but won’t keep it on. Her dr has prescribed lenses and hopes this will correct her lazy eye. Can this be purchased? I would love to buy this for her! please respond at your earliest convenience. 🙂
I absolutely adore this eye patch! I just sent you an email. 🙂
Hello. Can someone give me tips on how to make a patch like this? I thought this was a website on ordering eye patches and thought this one was the best I could find. Any ideas on how to get this one or make it? Any help would be appreciated. thank you.. 🙂
My daughter was just told she needs to wear an eye patch so yes i definitely want to make one! Do you remember what kind of elastic you used?
Would love more instructions on how you you made this. My 4 your old loves this and hates the adhesive patches.
my 7 year old daughter has battled orbital rhabdomyrosarcoma (a rare form of soft tissue cancer) for 3 years now. she had to have her right eye and partial eyelid removed this past march. We love this idea! definitely better than a regular “black eye patch”. Please send me any info you can on where to order or how to create this very pretty eye patch. thanks
Hi Heather, your little one looks just darling with your home made eye patch, so cute and girly. I hope it has helped correct her vision. I was just diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy a not so rare but unexplainable condition that causes facial paralysis. My (L) eye and mouth are drooping and I’m starting to feel very uncomfortable in public so I’ve decide to make myself one of these beautiful eye patches. I love to make greeting cards for family and friends so this kind of design is just right for me. Will you share how you made the dome shape in more detail? Will you teach me how to make one of these for myself? Would be so grateful. Thanks for sharing your beautiful minds eye.
Love this such a great artistic creative idea what die cuts do you use I have a cuttlebug and it seems to be hard for me to find die cuts for them 🙁
Hi. Do you sell these? And if so how much? We need to patch my daughter’s eyes for two hours everyday and she seems to conveniently loose the patch I made for her. But I think this would would be more acceptable to her as it is very attractive and girly. We live in Australia btw
I know this was posted so long ago but I would seriously pay for a pattern for this eye patch, my daughter needs to patch for 5 hours every day right now and having a beautiful and well fitting one would def make the time easier on her. Here’s to praying you read this and feel moved to help a sister out :). PS Love everything you do, you have a wonderful gift!
Jenn
where can i find an eye patch like this one?
Would you consider making one for this little 4 year old girl who lost her eye to a pit bull attack? She was recently asked to leave a KFC because her “appearance was disturbing other customers” please check her story out her mom is taking donations in the form of eye patches as she is to young for eye socket reconstruction.
https://www.facebook.com/victoriasvictories
Thanks!!!!
I sooo wish you sold these! This is amazing and I have an almost 3 year old daughter who has patched since 6 weeks old! We need some fun designs like this one!!!
How did you make that? I need one for my daughter! So cute!! Can’t find anything else like it online! Great job!