How to best way to do eye patching therapy for lazy eye

Eye patching therapy can help improve eyesight if you or your child has been diagnosed with amblyopia or lazy eye by an eye doctor. The key is consistency and daily patching therapy. Patching should be done for 3 to 4 hours a day, every day.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Eye patch (eye doctor's offices sell them or pick one up at a drug store)
• Visually stimulating tasks which also involve motor skills

1. Patch the normal seeing eye or the "good eye". If the patient wears prescription glasses, then be sure to wear the glasses and place the patch under the glasses. By patching the "good eye", the weak eye is forced to work and stimulates the vision part of the brain, visual cortex, for the weak eye. When both eyes are open, the weak eye gets suppressed and the vision part of the brain for the weak eye does not get proper stimulation. Patching therapy is for the brain, to allow proper brain development for better vision. This requires visual stimulation.
2. Stimulating the visual cortex for several hours, daily will ultimately facilitate new connections to form and vision will improve.
3. While the "good eye" is patched, the patient cannot be passive. Being a couch potato watching television does not count. TV is too passive. But playing video games on the television monitor does count. Video games require concentration in conjunction with motor skills.
4. Other visually stimulating tasks for patching are word searches, coloring, painting by numbers, reading and puzzles.
5. Another fun task is tossing rolled up socks into different colored and/or different shaped containers on the floor.
6. Mix up the activities to keep it interesting and fun so the patient does not get bored and inattentive.
7. Be consistent. Patch every day. 3-4 hours every day. With visually stimulating tasks. Make it fun.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to visit your eye doctor for progress checks, preferably the same doctor that diagnosed the lazy eye and recommended patching. The eye doctor can check visual acuity, refraction and depth perception to document visual improvements !! Subsequently once visual improvement is confirmed, this will give the patient added motivation to continue the patching !!
• If the patient has prescription glasses be sure to wear the glasses while the patch is worn.