Amblyopia Kids | Adventures in Amblyopia (Lazy Eye)

Review of Krafty eye Patches - Fun Eye Patch Kits for Kids

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:38:00 +0000

I first learned about Krafty eye Patches from another "amblyopia kid", Aidan, when his mother shared about their summer patching adventure. Since we'd had not so good luck with adhesive patches in the past, I wasn't sure if this would be a patch that would work for my daughter and her super sensitive fair skin. Belle has a mild latex allergy and in the past the adhesive patches we tried were nightmarish. To say they irritated her skin is a bit of an understatement. She hated wearing them and complained a lot about "the band-aid patches" because they actually pulled out her eyebrows and ripped at her skin. There were a lot of tears.

Still, the fun eye patch decoration kits looked right up my daughter's "crafy" ally. And, when I explored the website some more and read about how Krafty eye Patches were developed I had a glimmer of hope.

Could it be true.. Adhesive eye patches that are latex-free, hypoallergenic.. with an adhesive that will stay in place yet not rip her eyebrows and skin off?

Yes, it is true! I spoke at length with Christi, one of the owners of SavCo optical - the company behind Kraft eye Patches. Christi shared with me her daughter Savvy's story and their determination to make a patch that was kids would wear that also was functional. The big difference is in the adhesive, the adhesive is heat activated and made so it can be worn all day. It is also gentle so that it doesn't rip off skin or cause irritation. Importantly the patches have a black out layer on the bottom side so that kids cannot see through them. At the same time, the blackout layer is very thin so that it doesn't irritate their eyes or "crowd" their eyelashes. My daughter has told me with some of the adhesive patches that "her eye needs to breathe" or that she feels like she is getting "eye burgers" (conjunctivitis).. so far so good with these Krafty patches.

Belle likes these particular patches because they don't hurt when they are removed at the end of the day. I was pleased with this also since the last thing I want for my daughter is a rash on her face or a big red circle around her eye like a raccoon.

Now... A note on the adhesive: the first few times we wore these patches, I found that they were peeling. I wasn't sure if this was the high humidity and heat, or if the adhesive was "wimpy". Its a fine line - because you don't want the adhesive so strong that it irritates or rips your kids skin off. But, at the same time you need it to stick. I contacted Savco and got these awesome instructions which I'll share here:

Here are some patch tips.
1. Make sure skin is dry and free from lotions or suncreen this will break down the adhesive.
2. Make sure narrow end of patch is toward bridge of nose. Look at kids picture on website as a reference if need to
3. Press firmly around all edges of the adhesive with your finger helping to get a good seal. Heat from your skin will activate the adhesive. You may need to go around more than once. Do not worry that it will make the adhesive stick too hard to the skin for it won't but if you really want the adhesive to activate you need to do this.

Each time you use the patch repeat all three steps. The adhesive is kinda like a post-it note each time you reuse it will start to lose it's sticky and you will need to press on pretty firmly.

If patch gets wet it will not stick again. If fingers touch adhesive a lot or if a child peels up a side and resticks many times in one place it will loose stick in that area.

She suggested that I try for myself on the back of my hand. Yes! It works. The peeling issues we experienced the first few times are pretty much all but gone. The only times we have had any sticking issues of note really have had to do with my daughter getting very sweaty - which considering its been over 100 degrees here at the Jersey shore with high humidity - well, that is pretty unavoidable. I also found that sunscreen was a big contributor to breaking down the adhesive so I started to put the sunscreen on afterwards and not before her patch goes on. I also have had to remind her not to play with it, fidget or touch it. Some of this behavior is getting better as she is readjusting to wearing a patch on her eye pretty much full time. If you don't have a kid who gets real sweaty or touches at their patch with dirty fingers - you can actually re-use these. So, if you need to take it off for some reason - just stick it on a clean surface and then re-use it later on that day. You will need to press harder around the edges the second time you use it.

Fun Eye Patch Kits for Kids

The fun part about the Krafty patches is that they come in 7 colors (yellow, orange, red, blue, purple, pink, and green) and kids can decorate them to their hearts content. You can purchase the patches in a variety of kits (for boys or girls), patch assortments in a box of 50, or accessories a la carte. All of the accessories are non-toxic and sized appropriately so that they will fit on the patches. Prices for the accessories are in line with discount stores and the prices for the patches are in line with other brands like Ortopad or Fresnel Prism. 50 patches/$15 and you pick up to 5 colors in the box.

Savvy made my daughter a bright pink patch with a googly-eyed frog on it (that she made using a foam flower piece). My daughter likes it so much she doesn't want to wear it! I told her that I'd buy her some of the google eyes soon. Being able to decorate her patches has been a very good motivator for my daughter who wasn't very happy to have to patch again for 6-8 hours a day. We put the patches and decorating supplies in one of those gallon zipperseal bags and took them with us so that when we were with friends everyone could take a turn and make a patch for her. My daughter's favorite of course is the hot pink which gets a lot of attention and isn't subtle in the least. She likes to show it off and doesn't try to hide it behind her mass of hair - so I know she likes to wear it. You can see her making a patch below and one of the first patches she made. She is also wearing one of the Krafty patches in her Amblyopia PSA video we put earlier in the week.

For more info: visit the Krafty eye Patches website

disclaimer: Savco sent my daughter a Mini Be Dazzle Kit for girls which included 30 patches (10 each pink, purple, yellow) plus foam flowers, butterfly stickers and jewels [the kit is priced at $13] to try out for purposes of this review and sharing our honest opinion. Thank you for letting us try these! We'll be back for more soon!!

Review: Fancy Nancy and the Spectacular Spectacles

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:43:00 +0000

My daughter absolutely loves Fancy Nancy. They are kindred spirits of sorts. Fancy Nancy is an over-the-top girly girl, and you could absolutely say the same about my daughter. I was thrilled when I saw that Fancy Nancy now has a book out on the topic of getting glasses - of course I bought it for her. This is a big find for parents of little girls with glasses and Fancy Nancy fans alike. Absolutely a must have for your library of books dealing with kids in glasses.

The storyline revolves around Fancy Nancy's friend Bree who is having a hard time seeing and she gets glasses. Unlike so many of the kids books that deal with the topic of getting glasses, there is no hardship about not wanting to wear them, breaking them, or the likes of it. Instead, Bree loves her glasses and delights in just how fabulous they are. She loves to wear them, stores them in a glitzy case and wipes them clean with a silk cloth. Our heroine, Fancy Nancy, gets a bit jealous about Bree's "spectacular spectacles" (those are 'big fancy words' for pretty eyeglasses). Nancy wishes that she has glasses like her friend Bree but in the end she makes some spectacular specs of her own by decorating a pair of broken sunglasses. True to Fancy Nancy, the illustrations are very busy with lots to explore and tons of imagination. My daughter loves that Nancy's eyeglasses have wings on them like a bird! My only complaint with this book is that though it is rated as a beginner reader level 1 - it has a lot of big words in it (because that is how Fancy Nancy operates). So, truly beginning readers will likely require more assistance with this particular I Can Read book than others in the series.

Fancy Nancy: Spectacular Spectacles is a paperback 'I Can Read' beginner level 1 book and is priced at just $3.99

3 month checkup

noreply@blogger.com (sassyskorpio) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:22:00 +0000

Maggie had her latest checkup today with her eye doctor, and I wasn't expecting anything good or bad with this visit. She received a new pair of glasses with updated frames that hold a slightly stronger prescription about 3 months ago. These are a step up from the Miraflex frames she had worn for a couple of years. I don't know about boys, but it seems for girls even at age 4 they are concerned with how their glasses make them look. With her pink frames, she is very proud to wear them and let everyone know how much she likes them.

As for the outcome of the visit, there wasn't any major progress or regress, but I suppose if the pediatric ophthalmologist tells you to bring your child back in six months rather than 3 months as she has for the past year, then that must be a good sign!

Our Eye Patch Challenge

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:20:00 +0000

So, with the news that Belle has to patch 6-8 hours every day we are really on a mission. I've been setting the timer on my cellphone to go off when Belle's patching is complete so she knows that she has to wear it til she hears the timer and stop asking me every 5 minutes if time is done yet. It is getting easier with less "ugly moments". She has made it so far every day for a minimum of 6 hours all but one day since the doctor gave us "the news". But wow, at the end when time's up she is exhausted and her behavior leaves a lot to be desired. We are seeing a lot of clinginess, whining, meltdowns - moreso than you'd expect from a 5 year old but I know where its coming from and hopefully it will get better with time.

Since its summer and she is wearing her sunglasses a lot and changing in and out of her glasses. I've decided to give adhesive patching another try. After talking to a lot of moms who had 'peekers' like me - adhesive style patches were suggested many many times. The good news is it seems even in the past year there have been great strides made in the adhesive patches. So, I ordered some new patches from Ortopad (they have a whole new line of sensitive skin/latex free ones!) as well as some from Fresnel Prism to give them another shot. I also corresponded by email and phone with the owner of Krafty Eye Patches and got one of their fun kits which has gotten Belle excited about decorating her eye patches and making them pretty. We also got some Eye-Doodle Eye Patch Stickers that stick right onto patches and are stickers with really bright artwork on them made just the right shape for patches. All of these things do have Belle a lot more excited to pick a patch and keep it on every day. I have to say, I expected her to give me a lot more complaints about using the adhesives but she has been pretty darn good about it.

How YOU can help!

The hardest part for Belle lately has been dealing with the comments from strangers as well as friends who are not used to seeing her with a patch. In order to break the ice with a few of her friends I had her pass out a blank eye patch to them and ask them if they could decorate it for her. This reminded me of The Eye Patch project that one of our readers did with their child that was similar to a round robin or coupon swap. How it works is you send out/give out patches to people to decorate for your child to wear. Belle really liked this idea so we are going to do it. I'll be sending out the blank patches with a SASE for you to send back to me, if you would like to decorate a patch for Belle - please let me know in the comments or by emailing me at amblyopiakids at gmail dot com.

Do not post your address into the comments - please send it to me in email. Thanks!

Delighted by Despicable Me

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:55:00 +0000

If you've ever gone to the movies and been disappointed at the overwhelming stereotypical portrayal of kids who wear glasses, you are not alone. After taking the kids to see Despicable Me, we all agreed that there were a whole lot of glasses in this kids flick. And, I'm not just referring to the moviegoers who were donning the RealD glasses.

Our Despicable Me movie experience was a pretty exciting one. First, we had a debate over the whole 3D issue again. My 9 year old son really wanted to go to see it in 3D. However, we have skipped seeing the 3D versions of films lately because of his sister's vision issues and 3D frustrations. Still, we felt it wasn't totally fair to him to always be sacrificing for her. She agreed that she would try to see it in 3D. Ultimately, if she wore the 3D glasses over her regular glasses - the worst case scenario would be that the movie would just be in 2D for her. If she took them off, then it would be blurred - so she agreed to wear them. We loaded up the kids and headed out to the theatre only to realize when we were almost all the way there that my daughter wasn't wearing her glasses! She is always so good about putting them on right when she wakes up, that I had no idea she wasn't wearing them. Oops! So, we headed home to get her glasses and looked up movie times (thanks to the android app for movies right on my phone). We ended up picking a different theatre so we could catch the next showing.

Once we got to the theatre my daughter was excited to learn that they had kids 3D glasses so she didn't have to use one of her brother's eyeglass straps to hold the gigantic glasses on her tiny head. Then, the previews began. Preview after preview for yet another kids 3D movie. I get frustrated by this and so does she. Then the movie started. Within the first 5 minutes she remarked about some of the 3D effects. Was my daughter seeing some 3D? Yes! somehow, by some miracle she was. I don't know that she saw all of them, but on more than one occasion she commented about something coming into her head or reached out to grab and touch the image. This was cool to see, since previously she'd just sit there non-phased during 3D effects.

This made me love Despicable Me even more!

But wait.. more reason to love Despicable Me...

My daughter and I especially enjoyed the character, Margo, the oldest 'sister' in Despicable Me. She is a sweet little girl who happens to wear glasses. The character is voiced by Miranda Cosgrove (iCarly). I was happy to see that they've made a Margo plush toy. We'll be getting this one! (Amazon: Despicable Me Deluxe 15 Inch Plush Figure Margo)

But, Margo isn't the only character in glasses - she may be the cutest though!

Meet Gru's mother who wears glasses ala something you'd see in the Princess Peepers book.

But the best glasses of all - the minions! Hundreds of little yellow guys wearing glasses. Belle loved that some of them only had 1 eye. Of course, according to her - that means they automatically have amblyopia (like Mike from Monsters Inc).

Even the 'bad guy', Vector, who reminds me of Austin Powers - wears glasses!

DESPICABLE ME: Movie Trailer - The best home videos are here

RealD 3D Kids Sized Glasses in Theatres now

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 22:34:00 +0000

Those of you have attempted to go to 3D movies, only to find that the glasses are giant and don't stay on your child's head, fear no more. Since the release of Toy Story 3 in 3D, RealD has released glasses in a smaller kid-friendly size. Hopefully your theatre takes the hint and stocks them! The glasses are aimed for kids ages 8 and under. They are meant to be worn over any prescription eyewear, however the fit may be precarious when layering them.

Parent tip: you may still want to bring an eyeglass retainer strap to the hold the glasses on your child's face and prevent them from slipping. For children who refuse to keep the glasses on during the movie, opting to see the movie in 2D format may be a less frustrating (and more affordable) option (but without the fancy 3D effects). Many children, especially those with amblyopia, will continue to struggle to see the 3D effects- kids-sized 3D glasses or not.

Explaining Her Eye Patch (Video Blog)

noreply@blogger.com (AmblyopiaKids) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:05:00 +0000

Her very own Amblyopia PSA, and yes her voice is really that high and squeaky! Belle explains in this short video why she has to wear a patch. We are working on her practicing what to say to people when they make comments or point at her wearing the patch. She's not shy at all!

Reader Poll - What is Your Favorite Eye Patch

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:10:00 +0000

Vote for your favorite eye patch
-- pick just 1!--

Reader Poll - Adhesive or Cloth?

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0000

I posted this question on the facebook page but thought it would be good to post an official poll here. Feel free to elaborate on your answer in the comments.

What type of patch do you use?

Eye Patch Reviews

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:58:00 +0000

Amblyopia Kid Tested.... Mom Approved!

Submit your eye patch reviews and pictures to to amblyopiakids@gmail.com

If you are an eye patch manufacturer and would like to send out patches to some of the amblyopiakids readers to try. Please do not hesitate to contact me.

To read all eye patch reviews click here

Eye Patch Reviews Alphabetical Index

Anissa's Fun Patches
CVS vs Nexcare adhesives
Dr. Patch cling patch
Eye Mateys
Framehuggers ***Most recommended cloth eye patch! ****
iPatch
Krafty eye Patches - fun eye patch kits for kids with gentle adhesive!
Munchkins Eye Patches (ebay)
MYI Patches (Fresnel Prism)
Nexcare Adhesive Patch Jr. Size
"No-Peek" Patches (etsy store)
Patch Pals
Peek-a-boo patches (ebay) update as of 7/2010 cannot locate seller
Pumpkin Patch EyeWorks
The Perfect Patch

Adhesive patches

CVS vs Nexcare adhesives
Krafty eye Patches - fun eye patch kits for kids with gentle adhesive!

MYI Patches (Fresnel Prism)

Nexcare Adhesive Patch Jr. Size

Patches for Glasses

Anissa's Fun Patches

Dr. Patch cling patch

Eye Mateys

Framehuggers

Framehuggers Fun Photos

iPatch

Munchkins Eye Patches (ebay)

"No-Peek" Patches (etsy store)

Patch Pals

Peek-a-boo patches (ebay) update as of 7/2010 cannot locate seller

Pumpkin Patch EyeWorks

The Perfect Patch

To read all eye patch reviews click here

The doctor says... More Patching

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:53:00 +0000

So, since at her last eye doctor visit, things didn't go as well as planned. We learned Belle would be patching again and also is due for new glasses. So, after dilating her eyes at home we went in prepared for whatever the doctor would tell us.

Verdict: Patching daily. 6-8 hours a day.

Re-check in 1 month and at that time we'll consider getting new glasses. Her prescription has changed but he wants her to get back in the patching routine first.

Belle was upset and teary about it. She said her friends won't like her anymore. I said that isn't true and that they'd like her just the same. We recently received some patches from Krafty Eye Patches which have her excited about patching again and she is going to ask her friends to make and decorate patches for her. We also took our eye patch tree out of the closet and hung it back up on the doorway for her to earn prizes for patching.

I told her we'd start patching tomorrow (hopefully the dilation will be reduced by then), but she asked to do a little before dinner. She decorated a patch and put it on while we went outside to walk the dog together. It isn't the best patch activity but I could tell she just wanted to wear it and be with me. It was all good until one of the neighborhood children who was outside playing called her "One Eye" which hurt her feelings. Conveniently the patch "fell off" her face a few minutes after that. I didn't make a big deal of it.

Tomorrow will be a new day.

Cyclogyl for Eye Dilation

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:33:00 +0000

In the past my daughter has been prescribed atropine drops for dilation of her eyes (for exam). Some kids with amblyopia use atropine drops as an alternative to patching for occlusion purposes. My daughter however hasn't had the best luck with atropine. Side effects she has experienced include flushed cheeks, increased heart rate and droopy eyelids. So, this time the doctor prescribed Cyclogyl drops. We had to give her the drops at bedtime the night before her exam and then again in the morning before she went in for her appointment. We are very lucky because Belle is very cooperative about eye drops. She did complain and cry a bit after they were put in and said they were stinging but she lets us put the drops in without issue.

Knowing first hand that the dilation causes light sensitivity I came armed with her prescription sunglasses which she didn't really need to use since today was an overcast and rainy day. When we got to the eye doctors she let me know that the waiting room was too bright for her so we moved and waited in the other waiting room which has the lights off (the room where patients wait while they dilate).

I took this picture of her (using my android phone) with her eyes fully dilated (and used no flash). The picture was dark so I used auto-correct in the photo editor. You can't even see the blue of her eyes her pupils are so large. We thankfully experienced no side effects from Cyclogyl as we did with Atropine.

ABC News article about Amblyopia & Video Games

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:35:00 +0000

Last week I was interviewed by ABC News on the topic of Amblyopia and playing video games, specifically in regards to the Nintendo DS. Dr. Maino of Maino's Memos was also interviewed for the article. The interview was in a response to a news story about a 6 year old boy who had notable vision improvements after playing Mario Kart on the DS. Last year I published a blog post when my daughter started using her DS during patching time. You can find the article here. I believe that the DS is just one of many productive activities for kids to do during patch time.

Doctors Treat Vision Problem With Video Games

Video Games May Be the Right Prescription for Amblyopia

Playing Nintendo Daily Saves Boy’s Eyesight

The Nintendo DS can be helpful for Amblyopia

Patching Advice Requested at Little Four Eyes

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:41:00 +0000

There's a Reader question over at the Little Four Eyes blog on the topic of patching for 24/7.

Hop on over and help out!

The Little Four Eyes blog/community is an excellent resource for parents of little ones with "four eyes"!

Amblyopia Resources on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (AmblyopiaKids) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:55:00 +0000

Amblyopia Kids is on facebook and there are lots of other great amblyopia resources on Facebook too!

While you are on facebook be sure to check out...

Amblyopia Support Support page for Amblyopia courtesy of Billy's Journey with Amblyopia Blog
Amblyopia FB Community Page (wikipedia)
Bjort & Company creators of The Eye Patch Kids DVD
Little Four Eyes - a group for parents of young kids in glasses
Our Road with Amblyopia
Parents of Kids with Amblyopia (Lazy Eye)
Pediatric Esotropia/ Exotropia/ Strabismus/ Amblyopia/ Cross-eyed Awareness
Eye-Doodle Eye Patch Stickers Fun stickers & designs shaped like patches.
Krafty Eye Patches - Fun Eye Patch kits for kids
Patch-Me-Too - handmade patches for kids
Dr Patch (group)

Missing a facebook link here? Leave a comment!

Amblyopia Kids

Promote Your Page Too

Playing Nintendo Daily Saves Boy’s Eyesight

noreply@blogger.com (AmblyopiaKids) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:29:00 +0000

Check out this article about how playing Nintendo DS while patching helped reverse Amblyopia!

Playing Nintendo Daily Saves Boy’s Eyesight

Playing two hours of Mario Kart each day with his twin brother Jake while wearing an eye patch on his good eye forced his weaker eye to work harder. The treatment worked immediately, improving his vision 250% in the first week. Truly amazing!

Related Link: The Nintendo DS can be helpful for Amblyopia

Get your own Nintendo DS Lite, DSi (with internet), or DSi XL (Larger & more vision friendly!)
Get the game that saved his vision

Warning Note: Nintendo has announced the release of a new 3D capable Nintendo DS handheld device called the Nintendo 3DS. As children with amblyopia struggle and are unable to see in 3D, the 3D version should be avoided for children with Amblyopia. The safety of children using a 3D device is also at question. Repeated exposure to 3D can damage the optic nerve and actually cause/worsen Amblyopia and Strabismus in children.

3D Dangers - 3D damage to eyes can cause Amblyopia!

noreply@blogger.com (AmblyopiaKids) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 04:44:00 +0000

With more and more movies being released in 3D each week at the theatres (the majority being new kids movies) as well as hot electronics like 3D televisions and 3D handheld gaming devices hitting the market, one has to question Safety.

Are we damaging our kids eyes by exposing them to too much 3D?

When 3D televisions were introduced the release did not come without warning. 3D viewing may be hazardous to your health. Not only do many people struggle with viewing 3D (like those with Amblyopia and other binocular vision issues), other common symptoms include headaches, nausea, dizziness, and even seizures. Viewing 3D is not recommended for several populations including those with medical conditions like epilepsy, heart conditions, pregnant women and young children. So if the 3D television is dangerous enough to come with a product warning .. what about the barrage of 3D movies for kids coming out week after week? And how about the new 3D Nintendo 3DS handheld gaming system aimed at kids?

Must Read Articles:
From SlashDot:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/06/26/2059205/3D-Displays-May-Be-Hazardous-To-Young-Children?from=rss
3D Displays May Be Hazardous To Young Children
"Turns out 3D television can be inherently dangerous to developing children, and perhaps to adults as well. There's a malaise in children that can prevent full stereopsis (depth perception) from developing, called strabismus or lazy-eye. It is an abnormal alignment of the eyes in which the eyes do not focus on the same object — kind of like when you watch a 3D movie. As a result, depth perception is compromised. Acting on a hunch, the guys over at Audioholics contacted Mark Pesce, who worked with Sega on its VR Headset over 15 years ago — you know, the headset that never made it to market. As it turns out, back then Sega uncovered serious health risks involved with children consuming 3D and quickly buried the reports, and the project. Unfortunately, the same dangers exist in today's 3D, and the electronics, movie, and gaming industries seem to be ignoring the issue. If fully realized, 3D just might affect the vision of millions of children and, according to the latest research, many adults, across the country."

The article this references from Audioholics is a must read.

WARNING: 3D Video Hazardous to Your Health

Essentially - repeated 3D viewing - which is unlikely from occasionally taking a trip to the movie theatre for the latest 3D flick. But... is very very feasible with 3D TV in the home that is on day after day. Or, with a child who uses a handheld gaming system like a Nintendo 3DS daily for hour on end. We will have a population of children who are damaging their vision! Because of the nature of 3D viewing and how it "tricks" your eyes into seeing separately, repeated 3D could actually cause Amblyopia/Strabismus in kids, especially those under 7 years of age.

Related Links:
Amblyopia & 3D
3D Home Movie Experiment
Missing out on 3D Magic
3D movies and Amblyopia
Missing out on 3-D magic - 3D Amblyopia Avatar
Amblyopia Kids may struggle with trendy 3D toys & games
Amblyopia & Disney 3D Attractions
Avatar 3D Movie & Vision Issues
Fixing my Gaze Author - 3D Vision Workshop videos
Amblyopia, 3D Movies, and Ice Age 3
Health Risks and Dangers of the 3D TV

3D Movie Poll

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:25:00 +0000

It seems that just about every children's movie these days is being released in 3D. This has been a huge frustration for my family. My family, like many, enjoys family outings to the movies on weekends and we use it as a reward for good behavior. My 9 year old son is a big movie/animation buff. He draws and takes a big interest in Disney/Pixar especially. He has autism and is a very visual child and he has particularly enjoyed going to movies in 3D. But his little sister, age 5 - has Amblyopia. She struggles with 3D, and by the nature of her amblyopia - she cannot see 3D movies. This means, we are paying extra for the 3D experience but for her it is a frustration. She doesn't see 3D. She has wear cumbersome glasses over her glasses or the movie is "fuzzy" looking but she doesn't see the movie in 3D. We have tried to strike a happy medium by sometimes going to 3D movies as a special treat for my son but most often we opt to pay less and see the movie in 2D. It is not only cheaper but that way she doesn't struggle.

This past weekend we went to see Toy Story 3, which the kids both wanted to see very badly. My son really really wanted to see it in 3D while my daughter begged to not go to the 3D one. We planned to split up and see it in separate theatres with the boys (Daddy and son) going to 3D and girls (Mommy and daughter) going in 2D. Of course the movie times were staggered by an hour which was a mild inconvenience. As our good/bad luck would have it the theatre was having some issues with their 3D projector and a friend let us know that earlier in the day. We made the decision to all go as a family and see it in 2D. We loved it and didn't "need" 3D to enjoy family movie time together. Personally, I find it an expensive hassle and just wish the trend would be over with. Of course, every preview they showed for new kids movies coming out were for movies coming out in 3D! How frustrating for kids with Amblyopia and the parents that love them.

Am I the only one who just feels like saying "Enough already with the 3D!"?

Take my Reader Poll (you can check multiple answers)!

How do you feel about 3D Movies?

Riding the Amblyopia roller coaster, and the dreaded regression monster

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:45:00 +0000

In February 2010, my daughter had her 1 year appointment since being diagnosed with Amblyopia. At each appointment at 1 or 3 month intervals she had continued to receive good reports. Her weak eye got better each time and I could see the patching was working. Her doctor was very pleased and it was so exciting to see her be able to read even the small letters on the eye chart. It was the highest of highs when the doctor let us know that we could stop patching and take a break. He did say that we might be done forever but maybe we'd have to patch again down the road. Still, it was like we had climbed a mountain and made it to the top. My daughter had done it. She was beating Amblyopia! I always knew she could do it. I could taste victory and it was sweet. We scheduled a follow up and we packed the patches away in a gallon size zipperseal bag.

It was like living a "normal" life (what is normal?) without having to be sure to get in patching time each and every day and bank those hours.

Four months seemed to fly by very quickly what with school and extra activities. She graduated from preschool and shined at her dance recital. Before we knew it we were back at the eye doctor for her scheduled checkup.

Today, when she sat in the chair while the assistant did the pre-work for her visit. I could sense it immediately. When asked to occlude her eye, she cheated. The assistant switched to a larger eye cover she couldn't peak around and she immediately tried to turn her head, tilt it, she couldn't see. She made the letters larger and she sat there quietly. Finally she got to a large enough set of letters and my daughter announced "the letters are too blurry". She asked if maybe her glasses were dirty and we could clean them. Of course I wanted to believe that was the case, I knew it wasn't. We cleaned her glasses and she proceeded with the test.

She couldn't read the letters.

It was like diagnosis day all over again.

I sat there trying to be strong for my daughter and thought to myself. How could this have happened in 4 months? How did I not know she wasn't seeing again? What the heck!

From the looks of today we will be resuming patching and the likelihood of a new stronger prescription in her glasses is in her future. The doctor wants to do a full dilated exam to get the big picture and we'll come up with a plan. Since Belle had a tough time with the atropine drops and they caused her to get flushed and her heart to race, we are going to use Cyclogyl this time. He gave me a prescription so I can give them the night before and then the morning of her visit back which is scheduled for 2 weeks (we are going away next week otherwise it would be next week).

Glasses, Patches, Surgery? All or some of the above are just around the bend.

Here we go again.

What a rollercoaster ride this is.

Friendship through Amblyopia

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:23:00 +0000

When I started the Amblyopia Kids site, one of the first parents whom I connected with was Maggie's mom. I was brand new to Amblyopia and she shared her daughter's story with me and was kind enough to write about it here on the website. To meet someone else, even if they lived on the opposite coast was so very reassuring to me. Hearing how Maggie had graduated from patching and her "journey" gave me so much hope. Even though Amblyopia is rather common, I didn't know anyone who had walked in my shoes with it and it made me feel about 500 times less alone to start to connect with other parents.

We found that our girls had a lot of similarities (in addition to looking quite a bit alike too!) and in sharing stories we'd always remark - how the 2 seemed like they'd get along quite well! Well, as it turned out.. They sure did! Maggie's family took some time out of their family vacation and we met up here at the very sunny hot Jersey shore. The kids went to the aquarium, the boardwalk, rode some rides, ate some lunch and topped the day off with a refreshing ice cream!

What a perfect day for these 2 beautiful and very special little girls, Belle & Maggie, who share a common bond - Amblyopia....But its not stoppin' these strong girls.. Nope, not one bit!!!

Thanks to Maggie's family - what a magical day it was.

Aiden's Summer Patching

j.elizabeth.grant@gmail.com (Lizzie) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:28:00 +0000

When Aiden was three, his left eye started turning in, so we took him to the best pediatric ophthalmologist in town. We started treating his lazy eye first with glasses since he is also severely farsighted. Four years later, his eye is still very weak, so for the summer, he has to wear a patch over the good eye. What we hope will happen is that in a month, after patching for 4-6 hours each day, his eye will be a little stronger and we won't have to start eye drop therapy or worse, surgery.

As can be expected, the novelty of Aiden's patch wore off after a few days and there was increasing frustration with the amount of time he had to wear it vs. the time that Aiden wanted to play video games. I mentioned before that we are able to break up his treatment time, so we do three hours in the morning and three hours in the late afternoon. It's good that Aiden has a sense of time and can read a clock, otherwise, I would be going insane. If this was Simon (my four-year-old), I would have stabbed my eyes out. On our recent beach trip, Simon must have asked, "Are we at the beach?" at least 500 times before we were even an hour into the four-and-a-half-hour drive.

We ordered a box of 50 adhesive patches from Krafty Eye Patches. When Aiden's package came in the mail, we had a great time picking out stickers at Hobby Lobby. We also picked out a journal for him to put his patches in when he's done wearing them.

No matter how he chooses to express himself, though, I want his summer to be fun. Wish us luck! It's going to be a long, hot summer.

(Aiden's first journal entry written wearing the patch. It says "June 15, 2010. Daddy beat the game." The game being Final Fantasy XIII. )

Racing Eyeballs

noreply@blogger.com (AmblyopiaKids) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:13:00 +0000

We took the kids to the Lakewood Blueclaws game on Friday night and in the middle of the 6th inning there was an eyeball race. The race is sponsored by Invision eyecar e. Giant green, red, and blue eyeballs came out and raced around the bases. They keep score of it on the Blueclaws website, green won the night we went!

The kids Loved it.

I was laughing too hard to get a picture or video so I'm glad that I found a whole handful of them on youtube.

How far do you go to treat Amblyopia?

noreply@blogger.com (AmblyopiaKids) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:36:00 +0000

The most common treatments for Amblyopia include glasses, occlusion with patches or atropine drops, special contact lenses, and vision therapy.

But, if those weren't working would you SEW YOUR CHILD'S EYE SHUT?

I read on Dr. Maino's blog about the use of a silicon eyelid closure which is sutured into the eye in order to occlude the eye. Complications were present in half of the test cases but the study suggested this was a way to safely treat severe cases of amblyopia where occlusion by other methods had failed. Read more about it here

What are your thoughts on this?

Patching Works: Melody's Update

hellokittiemama@gmail.com (hellokittiemama) — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:04:00 +0000

Thanks to Sadia for sharing her daughter's journey with us. Click here read more about Melody's Amblyopia Story.

The other day, my twin daughters' daycare teacher pulled out a photo album containing photos from their infant classroom. In one of them, then-7-month-old Melody was wearing an Ortopad patch.

One of the girls' three-year-old classmates asked about it. "Why is she wearing that?" My other daughter, Jessica, gave the most pertinent answer. "She's not a pirate."

I responded with a far less exciting answer. "Well, Melody used to have a problem with her eye called amblyopia. Her brain didn't pay attention to what one of her eyes was seeing, so we covered up the seeing eye so that her brain would remember to pay attention to both of them. That worked, and now she doesn't need a patch any more."

She doesn't need a patch any more. I wasn't certain that I'd ever hear myself saying those words.

We were lucky that Melody's amblyopia was caught as early as it was. We were lucky that patching resolved the issue in a few short months. In a way, we were even lucky that my husband and his sister had a sister of childhood eye problems and that the twins were premature, since that made me hyper-vigilant about eye concerns.

Both my daughters recently went into the ophthalmologist for a check-up. They came away with the same diagnosis: no problems. Their vision is normal for their age, both 20/25 in one eye and 20/30 in the other. My amblyopia baby now has the same vision as her non-amblyopia twin. We didn't even bother making an appointment. Since Jessica and Melody will soon be turning four, any future problems will be caught at school vision screenings.

We stopped patching over three years ago. All I can say is that patching works!

Two new pairs of glasses for Maggie

noreply@blogger.com (sassyskorpio) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:38:00 +0000

Recently, Maggie had to upgrade her prescription. She received a pair that the insurance covered, but they do not pay for the lighter weight poly lenses. They are so heavy that I had to continuously tell her to push them up. Why don't insurance companies cover this lighter weight poly material?? The heavy thick glass lenses do no good if a child has to continuously push them up. These will be the "back up pair" for sure!

Today she received the pair we paid for out of pocket, and I LOVE them! She looks so much more grownup in this dark pink square oval shape!

This newer pair stay on her face much better too. She looks so much less of a toddler now without the MiraFlex frames she had for so long.

After doing a search, I couldn't find a decent place to donate old glasses. Any good suggestions?

Amblyopia Kids | Adventures in Amblyopia (Lazy Eye)

Review of Krafty eye Patches - Fun Eye Patch Kits for Kids

Review: Fancy Nancy and the Spectacular Spectacles

3 month checkup

Our Eye Patch Challenge

Delighted by Despicable Me

RealD 3D Kids Sized Glasses in Theatres now

Explaining Her Eye Patch (Video Blog)

Reader Poll - What is Your Favorite Eye Patch

Reader Poll - Adhesive or Cloth?

Eye Patch Reviews

The doctor says... More Patching

Cyclogyl for Eye Dilation

ABC News article about Amblyopia & Video Games

Doctors Treat Vision Problem With Video Games

Video Games May Be the Right Prescription for Amblyopia

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WARNING: 3D Video Hazardous to Your Health

3D Movie Poll

Riding the Amblyopia roller coaster, and the dreaded regression monster

Friendship through Amblyopia

Aiden's Summer Patching

Racing Eyeballs

How far do you go to treat Amblyopia?

Patching Works: Melody's Update

Two new pairs of glasses for Maggie