Monday, January 11, 2010

Not tatting -- but Important

A month ago my 8-year-0ld niece, Nicole, was diagnosed with Amblyopia. She is required to patch her right eye for six out of seven days -- every waking hour. Turns out she's allergic to the adhesive they use for stick-on occlusion eye-patches, and paper tape, and every other adhesive (though I admit we didn't try cellophane tape, it was a near-run thing).

My sister, Bonnie, made her a Pirate Patch with felt and polar fleece and a narrow elastic strap. That was cool for about 10 minutes -- then she peeked.

Bonnie found some felt patches that fit around and over her glasses, but they allowed light in around the edges. Then she cut a foam cosmetic applicator pad to put in the felt patch which kept Nicole's eye shut, but it was bulky and uncomfortable because it got too warm. She kept peeking or sticking her fingers under the patch.

These are her new patches. I am in no way related to or affiliated with
Anissa’s Fun Eye Patches
but, I do think anyone who has a child needing an occlusive eye patch should invest in these! Anissa's Fun Eye Patches have a lot of other patterns available, good for boys or girls. She likes these patches, and was excited to wear them. That was such a relief after the earlier patch problems. Nicole chose a pink and purple leopard print, a rainbow, some ladybugs, the flip-flops she's wearing in the picture, and a yellow blank one she can decorate. She's asked me to make a tatted eye for it. Fortunately, Jane Eborall has the perfect pattern. When it's done, I'll get Nicole to pose for you again.

8 comments:

rainbows and raindrops said...

I'm glad you found a solution!! =)

Anonymous said...

How wonderful for Nicole that she has a loving, tatting, Aunt! I'm looking forward to seeing a picture of her wearing the eye you tat. She's attractive and is sure to have fun with these patches. Karen

IsDihara said...

Those eye patches are trés chic indeed, and I can't wait to see one with a tatted eye. Fun, fun!

hellokittiemama said...

Hi there. My daughter also has amblyopia and we ran into troubles with adhesives being too irritating. I run a blog called amblyopia kids at WWW.amblyopiakids.com if you would like to contribute your story to the blog please let me know.

Katie said...

How much coolness is that! That eye patch is so much fun, it makes me wish I needed one! Great find! Nicole looks smashing in it!

Gina said...

I'm glad something was found that feels good and is fun to wear. I hope it all works out for her quickly.

Christie Cottage said...

First of all, she is adorable! The patch is cool!


I made a stack of patches for a teenage girl before Christmas. Her step-mom wanted them to tie on. I got out cool fabric print scraps and mailed her 10 or 12 of them. She loved them. I was so happy :-)

I will have to stop back by to see the tatted patch.


http://christiecottage.blogspot.com

Doris said...

Hi, I'm Anissa's grandmother. I was very excited to run across your blog. Nicole is adorable. It makes Anissa and me very happy to hear that her patches are helping other children be more comfortable. I would love to add her story and picture to my testimonial page if you wouldn't mind. Please let me know. Thanks, Doris