The Eye Patch is Working!

Today was Lex's first check-up to see how the eye patch was working.  He has been wearing it daily for almost three months.



I am so happy to report that his vision is improving!

The doctor said, and I quote, "I am happier than 10 happy cats."  I don't know exactly what that means, but he explained that many times he sees very little progress with patching, and this was very substantial progress, in less than three months!

Here are the details, and I will start from the beginning, in case you are new around here:

Lex has perfect vision in his right eye.  That's the one that is covered by the patch.

Lex is 20/200 in his left eye.  That's pretty much blind.  And since he has probably been that way since birth, his brain basically ignores anything that eye does.  That means that even when we got his glasses to fix that eye, his brain wouldn't use it.  He was still blind in his left eye, even when wearing glasses.

He wore the glasses for a while, and his vision improved to 20/60.  His vision is still 20/200 without the glasses, but his brain started using the information from his left eye a little better.  But 20/60 still isn't good enough to get a drivers' license.  Which meant that even while he was wearing his glasses, he still couldn't really see.

So, we started patching.  For the past (almost) three months, Lex has covered up his good eye for 2 to 4 hours every day and done things that were close enough for him to see with his weaker eye.  Usually this has been playing with the iPad or Laptop, but sometimes he plays with his toys and Legos.  It's always fine motor stuff, and never gross motor stuff.  It turns out that wearing an eye patch and running around the house at the same time leads to frequent running into things, like furniture and walls.  His vision just isn't good enough to see where he is going.

The doctor recommended letting him do his favorite thing while wearing his patch, so that he would have a good experience and be more willing to wear it again.  Since he loves the iPad or watching cartoons on Netflix, that is usually what I let him do.  It is working for us so far.

Today at his check-up, Lex tested his left eye at 20/30!  That is good enough for him to get a drivers' license (excepting the fact that he is three years old, of course), and it is really great.  He would pass a vision screening in kindergarten with that. 

All of this is assuming that he was wearing his glasses, of course.  Without his glasses, he is still blind in the left eye, but his brain is figuring out what to do with the information that his eye is sending when it is in focus using his glasses.

What does all of this mean?  Well, since you asked...

Lex is going to keep wearing his glasses.  We are so lucky that he wears them so well, without complaint, from the time he wakes up until he goes to sleep.

Lex is going to keep patching for another three months.  This is working for him, and the goal is to get his weaker eye to function as well as his good eye.  Then, we will go back to the good doctor and check his vision again.  He is filling up his second eye-patch poster with his used patches, and as soon as this second one is complete, he is going to receive a pirate telescope to go with his pirate hook.