One of the unfortunate things my two oldest kids have inherited from both their father and I is poor vision. Amblyopia, or lazy eye, to be exact. Maybe you have a little one struggling with Amblyopia, too?
What is Amblyopia?
Medical News Today explains:
“Lazy eye is also known as Amblyopia. Lazy eye is an early childhood condition where a child’s eyesight in one eye does not develop as it should. The problem is usually in just one eye, but can sometimes affect both of them.
When a patient has amblyopia the brain focuses on one eye more than the other, virtually ignoring the lazy eye. If that eye is not stimulated properly the visual brain cells do not mature normally. In the USA and UK amblyopia affects approximately 2% to 3% of all children. It is the most common cause of partial or total blindness in one eye (monocular blindness) in the USA.”
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My Sawyer has been wearing glasses since he was 18 months old, but his amblyopia has just now progressed to the point where he needs to wear an eye patch, too. His pediatric ophthalmologist has prescribed wearing a patch over his stronger eye for 2 hours per day to give his weaker eye practice and exercise.
I know longer hours are often prescribed for eye patches for kids, so I consider our mere 2 hours per day lucky. In fact, I remember being prescribed to wear one the entire day when I was in Kindergarten. My mom would put it on me before putting me on the school bus in the morning. And I would take it off as soon as she was out of sight! (Could be why my amblyopia is still a problem now.) I know my mom wasn’t the only mama to fight with her child over wearing an eye patch. Not only do they look “different” from peers, but they can be uncomfortable and tiring for the eyes, too.
So when I learned Sawyer needed one, I set out on a mission to make a patch that he wouldn’t mind wearing. One that’s soft and comfortable and maybe even a little fun, too! Here’s what I came up with and how you can make an eye patch for your child…
DIY Eye Patches for Kids with Amblyopia
Materials:
- Paper
and marker
for making the template
- Fabric
of your child’s choice (small prints work best)
- Felt
- Thread
- Sewing machine
or needle
for hand-sewing
Steps:
1. Place a piece of paper under your child’s glasses and trace a rough shape around the glasses for your eye patch.
2. Cut the shape out of the paper to use as your template. Use it as a template (by pinning it down and cutting around it) to cut out two pieces from the felt and one piece from the fabric.
3. Trim the fabric piece just a tiny bit around all edges so that it is slightly smaller than the felt pieces.
4. Place the fabric piece wrong side down onto one felt piece. Using a tight zigzag stitch (or a blanket stitch if sewing by hand), stitch along all edges.
5. Fold the sewn piece as shown above and use a straight stitch to sew across each corner (where the white lines are in the photo). Repeat this on the other felt piece. This will create the slight bend in the patch.
6. Place the fabric/felt piece, corner stitched side down onto the plain felt piece corner stitched side up. So that the corner stitched sides are both inside the “felt sandwich.”
7. Use a straight stitch to sew the top and the bottom of the pieces together leaving an opening around the side of the curve and the small straight edge for the glasses to slide through.
Slide the patch onto the arm of the glasses, and you’re all set! Does this look like a kid that has any confidence issue because of his eye patch? NOPE!
Psst… Make a BUNCH of eye patches for kids – they’ll get lost easy. Trust me!
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No Time for DIY Eye Patches?
This post was first published on April 23, 2012.
This post contains affiliate links. Which just means if you make a purchase after clicking a link, I will receive a small percentage of the sale – without your price being any higher! Thank you for your continued support. For more information, see my disclosure policy.
Meet the Author: Krissy Bonning-Gould
M.Ed Art Education - Blogger at B-Inspired Mama - Social Media Maven - Creative Mama of 3.
This is brilliant! So much more fun than the regular eye patches!
I'm sure my kids will eventually inherit Mike and my nearsightedness as well as astigmatism, but if they're like us they'll luck out until they hit their teens…
Yeah, we weren't so lucky. It's like Sawyer is taking right after me!
And thanks for linking up to Learning Laboratory!
Aw! This is adorable, and so is the little guy 🙂 I wish my mom were that clever when I was little and had to do the eye patch. My best friend's daughter does the patch, I'll pass this along to her.
Thanks, Natalie! I hope it helps your friends and her little one.
I'm totally sending this on to my adult friend in need of an eye patch!
Oh, great! Thanks, Alexa. I hope it helps.
What a cutie! I'm so sorry that he has to go thru what I did as a child. My eyepatch was black on the inside and flesh colored outside, clipping to the inside of my glasses. (This was back in 1958-60)Like Natalie, I wish my mom had made something like this for me! Give Sawyer a big hug for me! 🙂
xoxo
Joy
Thanks for the warm words. Mine was a hard plastic one of course. Can't believe how unappealing they are for kids.
Wish somebody's made me one 50 years ago! Mine was beige plastic & sometimes just white gauze & tape. Oh yeah, & a pair of glasses with one side covered.
White gauze and tape?! That must have been so uncomfortable!
I just read this & I'm going to try making my own patches. I suffer from double vision & extreme sensitivity to light in one eye & now have to wear a patch permanently. I started out wearing the adhesive ones which I really hated. I've now got a couple of leather ones which look nice but they're still pretty uncomfortable to wear all the time. A felt patch should let more air through- the worst thing about wearing a patch for me is never feeling fresh air around my eye & the constant hot, sticky feeling underneath. Plus I'll get a chance to try out a few of my own designs.
Lisa
I LOVE IT!!! You have now inspired me to make a new one for my son : )
awesome!! Quick ?
Do you think it matters if the patch sits on top of the lens or against the skin?? Great Idea! you ROCK :0)
Hi, found this pattern through Pinterest – my daughter has the same problem, and hates the sticky patch – just made one, following your tutorial, and she loved. Thanks you so much! 🙂
My 3 yr old has to patch. She has been for at least 6 months, just had eye surgery on both eyes (I thought we were done patching, but not yet.) She started hating the sticky patch just before her surgery so I don’t want to go back. A quick question how big of space do you leave for the nose piece so that it still seals on the top?? I might just have to try and mess up a few times, i’m not a big sewer… Did you ever try a flannel fabric against the eye? Or is there different types of felt. Thanks
So sorry you and your little one have to go through this! I hope a handmade patch helps her. I used felt because it has a bit more structure than flannel. The texture didn’t seem to bother my little guy. And the felt was soft enough to just sort of sit up against the nose piece. I didn’t cut out any special area for it. I hope this helps. If need any more help feel free to use my contact form (where it says contact in the top menu bar) to email me directly. Good luck, Mama!
I am so going to make one of these for my four and a half year old. He wants to look like a pirate, so I think I’ll just use black fabric but make a cute (?) skull and crossbones out of felt to go on top. He absolutely HATES wearing a patch because then he can’t see, so I’m hoping to make it more fun for him. Thanks for the directions!
hi, my daughter was just diagnosed with amblyopia today. No surprise, I have it and just like you I always took my horrid black patch off as soon as I could (and my right eye is terrible because of it). So, my almost 3 year old needs a patch and I might just have to make her one like this. Thanks for the tutorial.
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You’re welcome. I hope it helps your little one as much as it did mine! We no longer need to patch after about 9 months of it. Good luck, Mama!
I just want to thank you so very very much for this post!!! My 6 year old was diagnosed with Amblyopia over a year ago. Your page was sent to me by a friend a few months later (sometime last summer) when the doctor said we had to patch. I immediately began making your patches and they have been a huge success. Not only is my daughter more compliant with patching because she gets to pick which patterns she likes, they are so cheap and easy to make that we always have several kicking around (in the car, in my purse, in her backpack etc etc). I have also been stopped in public on a few occasions by moms fed up with bandage patches and pirate patches asking how to make them.
We had a follow up appointment last week and the doctor explained to me that my daughter’s eye has improved from a .575 to a .475 (I don’t know what the numbers mean myself, but it is a huge improvement). She now gets a new prescription and the doctor figures 3-6 more months and we will be patch free. I truly do owe thanks to you. If it weren’t for these patches, I don’t think this would have been as easy as it has been, so THANK YOU! 🙂
Oh my gosh – this just about brought tears to my eyes! This was just my little way to make things easier for my kiddo and I. I never could have imagined that i could help others, but I’m thrilled! I’m so glad to hear that it’s helping you and your daughter. We only ended up having to patch for about 8 months, so they helped us, too. I hope you’re patch-free soon! Thanks so much for stopping in and supporting me. 🙂
I have a 4 month that doesn’t wear glasses yet but need to patch 2 hours a day, he gets a rash from sticky patch. Is there a way of adapting this for no glasses?
Maybe stitch some soft elastic to the ends like a headband? I did that for the fake patch I made my three year old. She wanted to match her brother, but her eyesight is fine! Since she doesn’t have glasses, we used elastic to hold it on.
Yes, I would agree with Gyen, to add some soft elastic to it that could go around his head. Good luck, Mama!
I just used your tutorial to make a patch for my son. Thank you!!
Oh, I’m so glad that it’s helping others!!
I love this idea. It seems simple enough… but I am not crafty at all. I will do my best! Thanks for the tutorial!
It’s not hard at all. I hope it helps! 🙂
Thank you for sharing your tutorial. With just some scraps around the house, I was able to make something my daughter loves…well, as much as you can love something you’d rather not wear.
Oh, I’m so glad it helped, Robin!
Thanks Krissy for a wonderful idea! My daughter likes this so much better than the adhesive patches
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JUST WHAT I NEEDED THANK YOU
Thank you so much for sharing this!! My 6 year old has a lazy eye…had surgery a couple years ago and now we have to patch again for 2 hours a day! Its such a challenge…even getting him to keep his glasses on is a challenge…Im going to make this and hope it helps…he loves the pictures! I will keep you posted!!
Oh – this just made my day! I hope it helps him. Let me know if you have a questions!
I know its been a while since you posted this but I must ask, did you have any issues with his glasses slipping down and him being able to find some “peek a boo” spots?? I asked my daughter’s eye doc about making her one but that was his concern is that her glasses would slip down and she would be able to see around it. just thought I would ask before I get the stuff to make. thanks!
My son was (and still is) notorious for having his glasses at the end of his nose. But the patch is big enough around the glasses that it didn’t seem to be a problem for him at the time. I can’t promise, though, I guess.
Wow this is really great am going to try it out
Hope it helps!
Thank you SO MUCH!
You’re so welcome! Glad to be of help.
Thanks so much for this EASY pattern!! I’ve made one already and now I want to make others to match all her outfits 🙂
Oh it makes my day when I hear that this was helpful for another mama!