Poor toddler eyesight - Eye patch or Drops to fix?

[MrsRose2018]

My 2.5 year old has been seen by the eye hospital since he was 1 year old. First for a strabismus/squint In his left eye and now, in addition to and unconnected to the squint, very poor eyesight in his left eye.

He's just been for his consultant review and they have said that we've got a decision to make.

Basically the eyesight his right eye is well above average but the left is really poor and we need to fix this by the time he’s 7/8, otherwise that’s his eyesight for life.

To try and strengthen his weaker left eye and make his right eye less "dominant" we either need to have a patch on his right eye for a minimum of 2 hours a day every day, or we add drops twice a week which make his left eye catch up/work harder by making his right eye blurry.

Our Son already wears glasses so I'm just not sure which approach to take - the patch or the drops. Does anyone have any experience with this or any advice to give?

TIA x

I had this as a child and was supposed to patch. I avoided it as much as possible and now have extremely poor vision in one eye. My brain basically ignores what that eye sees and relies on the good vision in the other one.

My DS had the same aged 2 and we chose to do the drops. We used to have to pin him down to do it but it corrected the vision over time.

He still has to wear glasses but his vision in general is much better than it would've been had we not used the drops.

@PotatoCatkin thank you so much for your response!!!

I've been trying to find a forum or something to
Speak to parents who've also had this and haven't found anything!

My husband had something similar and also wore a patch. It mostly corrected his eyesight but he needed surgery for the squint. He still wears glasses but only for screen work etc. drops weren't an option when he was little.

I remember being 'patched' as a kid - aged 5ish I think. I remember it being quite itchy so the drops may be less annoying. I still don't have good sight in my left eye - I was told that if my right was ever damaged the left would improve gradually to the level it got to when I wore a patch but not sure if that's correct.

We’ve just been told we need to patch our 3 year old. It’s only been a week but she’s worn the patch about 15 minutes in total over 7 days. She hates it. I will phone the hospital back as we’ve tried a lot of things to bribe her and nothing is working. I’d be interested in drops and whether that would be an easier option than the patches. I just don’t want to freak her out if she can’t see through the bad eye. But I guess her vision would catch up soon enough.

My dd had patches many years ago. She was actually really compliant and I put the patch on her eye for hours a day for ages. Her vision in the weaker eye, unpatched, is really poor I’m very disappointed to say.

My DS2 had a patch aged 4. He wore it as soon as he got up (we put it on his glasses before bed) and took it off before school. So about 2 hours a day a bit longer at weekends. We used to say he was our pirate! Drops weren't offered.
He did this for 2 years and his brain turned his left eye back on (it wasn't being used as he had such a bad undetected astigmatism). His glasses corrected the astigmatism but his brain still wasn't using the eye because it had turned it off when he hadn't been wearing glasses as his eye was useless. The patch made his brain use it.
It worked v well and his sight is now as good (corrected with glasses) in both eyes.
He was v compliant and a little older than your DS. But I am so glad we did it.

My DD13 had a patch for a divergent squint. She was patched from 4.5 to 6yr old. So a bit older. (Drops were not an option then). She wore glasses until about aged 10/11 but does not now.

Thinking about it she did have drops for the eye exam at the hospital. But they were not offered as an alternative to patching.

I would definitely do something. Which I guess depends on which you think your child / you could tolerate. Presumably at this age there is time so if you pick one method and they don't tolerate it then you can try the other? My dd was OK with patching, thought the whole thing quite amusing. She had various charts to stick the used ones onto each day and they had various pictures on. I can't imagine a child tolerating having drops put in which they know is going to make their sight funny... but I don't know. Kids particualry little ones can be very tolerant beings. My dd helped another smaller kid in school be happy with her patches - they were patch twins for a while!!

Thank you so much for all these responses.

So my next question. Can anyone reccomend a patch that won't hurt his skin taking it off/pull at his hair/eyebrows?

Alternatively would this work? I wasn't at this appointment as my husband took my DS so I didn't get to ask all these questions 😂

My DS patches went over his glasses and were made of fabric. A bit like the one you have there. I it from the eye clinic and he had a choice of patterns. Never applied to his skin.

We’ve been trying the fabric over-glasses ones but no success getting it on her yet. She freaks out as soon as her good eye is covered.
I’ve read lots of positive stories of patching working for their kid, but I can’t get past 2 minutes with hers.