Eye Patch for Astigmatism?

[Biscuitsmom31]

DH took DS 6 to the eye doctor yesterday. From what I understand the doctor said that he has astigmatism in his right eye and now he has to wear an eye patch for 2 hours a day. He's supposed to go back in a month.

Is this common? Should I be concerned about his eye?

 

[mvazul]

I used to work for an optician (many moons ago) and I have never heard of an eye patch for astigmatism. I've seen them used for a lazy eye, but not astigmatism. The patch is put on the strong eye, so the weaker one can get stronger. Is it possible he has a lazy eye?

I have extremely high astigmatism in my right eye and have never needed to wear a patch. You may want to call the doctor yourself just to get some clarification.



Michelle

 

[Biscuitsmom31]

I used to work for an optician (many moons ago) and I have never heard of an eye patch for astigmatism. I've seen them used for a lazy eye, but not astigmatism. The patch is put on the strong eye, so the weaker one can get stronger. Is it possible he has a lazy eye?

I have extremely high astigmatism in my right eye and have never needed to wear a patch. You may want to call the doctor yourself just to get some clarification.



Michelle

I thought it sounded strange. That's why I like to take the kids to appointments myself. DH just goes with the flow and never asks questions.

 

[Gina]

I agree with Michelle -- I also worked as an optician for a bunch of years, and I've never heard of an eye patch for astigmatism. In astigmatism, your cornea isn't round -- it's basically shaped more like a football -- and light doesn't enter the eye normally. Instead, it bounces unevenly off the football-shaped planes and allows light to fall on more than one point in the eye. That causes blurred and/or distorted vision. Astigmatism can be treated with glasses or contacts, but the only way to correct it since it is a structural problem is with laser surgery.

Patches in kids are almost always for lazy eye, to strengthen the weaker eye just as Michelle said.

 

[mjkacmom]

My dd was patched when she was 2 for a lazy eye. Didn't work, and had surgery at 3 - wish we just started out with the surgery, piece of cake, and she hated to be patched. Almost 5 years later, and it's starting to go the other way, and we might eventually need another surgery, but it's better than patching!

 

[JessicaR]

My son had to patch when he was younger for Amblyopia with Strabismus. Could it be that he has Amblyopia?

 

[Biscuitsmom31]

Okay. Here's the explanation I got from someone at the doctor's office. Apparently his astigmastim in his right eye is so bad that his brain is starting to "ignore" it in favor of his left eye (which has 20/20 vision). As soon as he gets his glasses to correct his vision in his right eye, he's supposed to wear the patch over his left eye. This is supposed to re-train his brain to properly focus that eye.

 

[mvazul]

Okay. Here's the explanation I got from someone at the doctor's office. Apparently his astigmastim in his right eye is so bad that his brain is starting to "ignore" it in favor of his left eye (which has 20/20 vision). As soon as he gets his glasses to correct his vision in his right eye, he's supposed to wear the patch over his left eye. This is supposed to re-train his brain to properly focus that eye.

That makes much more sense. It sounds like the doctor is worried about his right eye becoming a lazy eye and is trying to stop it before it happens. Definitely follow up in a month like the doctor wants.

Good luck.

Michelle

 

[HeatherC]

When I was a kid I had the eye patch thing going on for over a year. It did NOTHING!

My eye doctor told me now they can actually do some sort of laser treatment to help correct it. But I never checked into it.

 

[Disney1976]

I had the eye patch for astigmatism when I was a kid too. I'm also blind as a bat without glasses on.

 

[browneyes106]

I had a lazy eye when I was little. The eye doctor who treated me also did patching therapy for kids with astigmatism. Back then I had to wear a patch for 6 hours day. I read sometime back that doctors have cut down the time on patching therapy.

 

[Biscuitsmom31]

I made him an appointment with a pediatric opthamologist. I want to be sure he's getting what he needs.

 

[Lanshark]

DS wore an eye patch for strabismus(lazy eye). It's a common treatment and worked wonders. Never heard of it for astigmatism. We went to a pediatric opthamologist.

 

[Alyssa88]

eye patching is a great treatment. It takes advantage of the brain's plasticity. Because the good eye has been able to form more synapses, it may have taken over the part of the brain controlling the bad eye. By covering the good you allow the bad eye to work, allowing more neurons to synapse and brain re-organization.

I don't know about it working for astigmatism, but I would assume it would work when one eye is significantly better than the other.

 

[*Fantasia*]

eye patching is a great treatment. It takes advantage of the brain's plasticity. Because the good eye has been able to form more synapses, it may have taken over the part of the brain controlling the bad eye. By covering the good you allow the bad eye to work, allowing more neurons to synapse and brain re-organization.

I don't know about it working for astigmatism, but I would assume it would work when one eye is significantly better than the other.

agree. a normal eyeball is suppose to look like a sphere, when you have an astigmatism your eyeball looks like a football or cylinder. to correct this with the eyeglasses, the lenses has to be grinded in a way where it can correct the astigmatism. to find out if you child has astigmatism, you can check the rx and it will have the rx under sphere and rx under cylinder and axis. axis is just the way how the cylinder would be grounded on the lens. if your child does not have astigmatism, the rx will only have it under the sphere, it just means your eyeballs are round, no extra corrections needed.

i have worked in the optical for about 15 years (i haven't worked in the optical for a few years now) and i have never heard of having to patch an eye to correct the astigmatism, unless the patient has a lazy eye or amblyopia.


"Amblyopia is a neurologically active process. In other words, the loss of vision takes place in the brain. If one eye sees clearly and the other sees a blur, the brain can inhibit (block, ignore, suppress) the eye with the blur. The brain can also suppress one eye to avoid double vision. The inhibition process (suppression) can result in a permanent decrease in the vision in the blurry eye that can not be corrected with glasses, lenses, or lasik surgery."

"Treatment involves glasses, drops, vision therapy and/or patching."

 

[Aardvarks]

Okay. Here's the explanation I got from someone at the doctor's office. Apparently his astigmastim in his right eye is so bad that his brain is starting to "ignore" it in favor of his left eye (which has 20/20 vision). As soon as he gets his glasses to correct his vision in his right eye, he's supposed to wear the patch over his left eye. This is supposed to re-train his brain to properly focus that eye.

Yes, it is referred to as supression or supressing. Get it sorted out now. If the optic centre gets an input that causes problems, it will supress that input.

Without the prisms in my spectacles I have only a few degrees of binocular vision and can hold a stereo image for a while. After this I will get a double image until my brain supresses the weaker image from my right eye.

Please do not get too concerned. I was in and out of eye hospitals up to the age of 3 years old, wore a patch to the age of 6 years old, never got my vision anywhere near normal and yet still made a great life. My only area of weakness is playing games with small balls that move fast like tennis or squash, I just cant focus fast enough to get a true picture of where the darned ball is in time and space, and in watching those 3D movies that they have at Disney and Universal.

They can sort most things these days

 

[PaulaSB12]

I had the eye patch for astigmatism when I was a kid too. I'm also blind as a bat without glasses on.

I was given a patch for astigmatism as well I was told if I was a good girl I would get a white patch, if not I would get a black (pirate!!!) one. I am now short sighted in my right eye (used for reading and close use only) and long sighted in my left eye (used for all distance work)

 

[HugsForEeyore]

When I was a kid I had the eye patch thing going on for over a year. It did NOTHING!

My eye doctor told me now they can actually do some sort of laser treatment to help correct it. But I never checked into it.

Same here! I had to wear an eye patch for 2 hours a day for 2 years, from 1st to 3rd grade. At the end, my lazy eye never improved! It was all for nothing. My right eye was still much stronger than the left. I did faithfully wear the eyepatch, but at the same time, I felt singled out. I couldn't go anywhere after school or play with friends, because I had to sit at home and wear my eyepatch. If any other kid ever saw me in it, I would have been teased to death - that's just how things were back then. I don't remember my eyepatch days fondly.

Around 5th grade, I just got glasses with different strength lenses on each side. I am pushing 40 now and can see just fine and only wear my glasses to drive. My lazy eye was never an issue after early childhood and really wasn't ever mentoned again. The whole experience only confused me as a kid - why was it such a big huge deal and then forgotten about so quickly?? Oh well, who knows!