Occlusion therapy (patching)
What is occlusion therapy?
There are 2 different ways to improve the vision in one eye after the use of glasses.
Patching
It is thought that the maximum vision can be obtained with 400 hours of patching. In younger children under 4, 1 to 3 hours of patching will be sufficient whereas in older children 2 to 4 hours should be effective.
Drops (Atropine in the good eye at weekends)
During occlusion therapy (patching or drops) your child needs to be seen regularly to ensure the good eye is not being damaged.
- Success rates vary from 60 to 75% of children
- The treatment effect lasts for one year in 80% of cases. However, this may drop off after further years.
- Weaning off patching is thought to be better than stopping immediately as the vision is less likely to drop.
