3M Opticlude orthoptic eye patches

Children can sense their parents’ emotions. To help your child be confident and unafraid for the examination, it is important that you set an example of calmness and confidence. If you can, project enthusiasm about making the child’s weak eye stronger. Using language appropriate to your child’s age, explain what will happen during the visit to the ophthalmologist to show there is nothing to fear.

During this interview, the doctor and healthcare staff will ask you and your child questions about symptoms and relevant health issues. They may ask:

• What are the symptoms? Is there any discomfort?
• Are there other health conditions that may be causing these symptoms?
• Is the child taking any medicines?
• Is your child on track reaching developmental milestones?
• Is the child receiving any other kinds of therapies (ergotherapy, physiotherapy, speech therapy, etc.)?
• Are there any eye diseases in the family?
• Did the pregnancy and delivery of the child take place normally?

Afterward, an orthoptist will perform examination to assess your child’s visual acuity and how well the two eyes work together. The results help determine the exact condition affecting your child’s eye, such as strabismus (crossed eyes) or amblyopia (lazy eye).

To complete the examination of your child's eyes, eye drops are used to dilate the pupils and relax the internal muscles of the eye. This helps the doctor correctly detect vision problems that may be related to strabismus or amblyopia.

The drops take about 30 minutes to work. Think about bringing toys, books, or other fun activities for your child to do while you wait.

Altogether, the interview, the examination, the eye drops, and time in between can take an hour and a half or more. For your child’s comfort, it is important that you remain patient, calm and relaxed. Be sure to bring along things to keep your child busy and distracted when there is nothing else happening.

Occlusive therapy is when a covering is placed over the healthy eye so that your child will use only the affected eye. As the weak eye gets more use, it will grow stronger. Occlusive therapy is an important part of correcting strabismus and amblyopia.

About five percent of babies and children develop strabismus. This is not a concern, because your ophthalmologist can usually help you with occlusive therapy. Strabismus is often associated with visual impairment, meaning that this eye does not see as well as the other eye. Your child may also need glasses as part of the treatment for strabismus. Amblyopia can be caused by strabismus, but amblyopia can also occur because the brain simply favors one eye and the other eye gets weaker as a result, even if both eyes are otherwise healthy. Occlusive therapy alone may be enough for amblyopia. This is why the ophthalmological examination is the first step.

With 3M™ Opticlude™ Silicone orthoptic dressings, the therapy is painless. And children love the colourful patterns so they are more receptive to wearing the patches.

How long your child needs to wear the patch each day, and how long it takes for treatment to be completed, are determined by your doctor and orthoptist. You should follow their instructions.

As a general rule, however, during the first years of their lives, children should wear the patch for only part of their waking hours, so that the covered eye gets some use each day. One approach is to wear the patch every day for a number of hours corresponding to child’s age. For example, a 3-year-old child should wear it 3 hours a day. Older children should wear the orthoptic dressing longer. The therapy is simple, painless and effective.

As the parent, it will be up to you to make sure your child wears the patch for the right length of time each day, and every day until the therapy is complete.

Usually, a significant improvement in visual performance is observed some weeks after beginning therapy. Complete improvement will take longer.

If you have not done so already, have your child’s vision examined as soon as possible. For babies and children, strabismus can be treated very effectively. As with all health conditions, the earlier treatment begins, the better.

You can give your child encouragement and comfort to accept and persist with the therapy.

• Tell your child that the treatment is painless and safe
• Adopt a positive mindset and demeanor during visits to the doctor and regarding the orthoptic dressings
• Ask your child to choose his or her favorite patches and affirm the choice as fun and exciting
• Be patient with each new patch before starting activities, as your child and the weak eye will need a little time to adapt to the new vision
• If the doctor has prescribed glasses, make sure your child wears them because they are an essential part of the treatment
• Encourage your child to play with friends and family, and to do short-distance activities like painting, reading aloud, crafts, and the like.
• Celebrate successes. Consider offering small rewards, for example, as after each dressing removal with no fussing. Make it special occasion when your child reaches a weekly or monthly milestone or has a good follow-up examination

Short-distance activities are those that can be done within easy reach of your child, and which require attention to details and physical interaction with the activity and with people. These activities exercise the eye and strengthen the vision. They can also be very much fun for your child, especially when the activities are suited to his or her age.

Encourage your child to:

• Play board games with you and with friends, where your child must handle game elements
• Do jigsaw puzzles
• Drawing, painting, and any sort of art or craft that your child can make. You and your child can even make crafts using the patches that have been worn
• Solve age-appropriated mazes and puzzles involving words, numbers, or pictures
• Reading out loud
• Playing with toys such as setting up a tea party or racing toy cars

Note that none of the activities above involve the use of electronic devices with screens. Whether or not your child uses such devices is up to you. However, for strengthening you child’s vision, such activities should not be counted as short-distance activities, even though the devices are used within your child’s reach. Screen-based activities do not offer the benefits of the short-distance activities that involve more physical interaction. The depth of focus and the range of attention are limited and very narrow.

Physical activities in contrast require depth perception, changes in focus as your child looks at things near and far, and moving the eye to perceive things high or low and left or right.