Cool. I wish they'd been around years ago when we needed them. Elcie would not keep a patch on even when she was at her orthopedic pre-school surrounded by experts in that sort of thing. She was just too little and too stubborn.

Her doctor said she would have eventually needed the surgery anyway and the patch by itself wouldn't have been enough no matter how compliant we tried to be. I still feel bad though that we couldn't make it work.

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My premature son recovered from his ROP but has had (so far) 4 strabismus surgeries. We go see the dr in a couple weeks to determine whether he needs another. He does. He had his first surgery at 6 mos (2 mos adjusted) There has been no keeping those patches on his eye. We were supposed to be alternating each eye each day for 2 hours. I tried doing it during meal time so that he would be distracted. Didn't work. Even the big arm braces that are meant to keep them from scratching out their stitches didn't work. He figured out how to bend his arms and get the patch (which then went in his mouth as everything does)

Fancying the patches up is not going to help us. He is just too young at just shy of 2. You cannot reason with them and explain they have to wear them or have surgery, and no matter how many times I reapply or use medical tape, they just aren't working.

But, considering he was 15 weeks early and had to have heart surgery at 11 days old, a few outpatient surgeries (he has to have a couple others, in addition to the eye surgeries) is cake compared to what we could be dealing with. We take it all with a grain of salt and thank our lucky stars everday he is even alive to need the surgeries.

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now those are awesome!! Eye me captian!!!

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Ok, I think my son would want that even though he doesn't need the surgery.

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Michelle, two of my girls (oldest and youngest) have had the surgery; Elcie twice. Her's was tied in with the cerebral palsy.

They didn't even try the patch with Rebeccabecause she was so young and the strabismus was so pronounced. Her surgery went fine and so far only once. She was a preemie, two lbs 5 oz. I don't think she was quite as tiny as yours but very touch and go for a while.

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Ann, my son was a bit smaller than Rebecca at 1 lb 10 oz but we have been quite lucky in that the issues have been rather minor compared to other preemies I know.

My son's neurologist says there may be a link between the strabismus and his hydrocephelus and previous seizure activity. He says often neurological issues like those and others can cause strabismus.

So, I'm sure you understand, having similar issues, my rather blase attitude about the surgery. The first time, when he was such a little baby was traumatic for me, but after 4 and counting, it's just another thing we have to deal with. No biggie.

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A friend of mine had her 3 year old wearing a patch for several months, and she just bought stickers to put on over the standard white patch. H got to have a different design every day.

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