About Blake
Blake is our 5 year old son who has been diagnosed with
a lazy eye (amblyopia).
Our first ever hint that Blake was having sight problems was when he
was tested at his early childhood centre prior to starting school. We
were shocked and in disbelief that he couldn't see properly out of his
left eye as we had no idea of this problem, and he had never said anything
to us about his sight in that eye.
Upon seeing an optometrist and then a paediatric ophthalmologist, he was
diagnosed with a lazy eye. This was a stressful time for us all, the prospect
of him having to wear glasses.....But little did we know the bigger stress
was yet to come....Patching. We were given a stick on patch that he would
fear as soon as it would be time to patch. It would be uncomfortable,
rip off eyebrows and skin upon removal and leave his skin irritated. We
would use a few patches a day, as any tears would make it soggy and uncomfortable,
and he would try and rip the patch off. Being summer at the time we started
patching, he would sweat underneath the patch, causing him to be itchy
and irritable. Patching was beginning to be costly, as in no time we had
been through 2 boxes of stick on patches. We then resorted to making a
pirate patch which he would have sitting on top of his head everytime
he thought we weren't looking.
That's why Patch Mate is ideal.
It simply slips onto the glasses, therefore not directly having contact
with his eye or skin whilst blocking his vision in the stronger eye. Air
is able to flow around the eye area, so his skin is able to breathe. Blake
loves his patches. He enjoys the choices of patches to wear, giving him
autonomy with the patching process. Patch Mate has taken the stress out
of patching for both us and Blake.