想知道全天遮蓋的感受嗎？

Would you like to try an experiment so that you can understand what it would be like to have amblyopia and wear a patch full-time? First, buy a patch from the pharmacy or borrow one from your child who is currently being patched. Now, patch one of your eyes for a full day so you can feel what your child feels.

想知道全天遮蓋的感受嗎？我們可以做一個實驗。在藥店買一個眼罩，或者就用孩子的眼罩，把你的一隻眼睛遮蓋一整天，你就會明白了。

What is your level of security when moving through space? How is your reading ability and comprehension? Are you socially self-conscious, and do you have more difficulty making eye contact? What other negative things do you notice? Keep in mind that you feel these negative things just having one eye covered, even without having to function with an amblyopic eye.

當你戴著眼罩四處走動時，你還覺得安全嗎？閱讀理解能力有什麼變化？與周圍人互動有什麼感受？眼神交流有沒有困難？是不是還有其它負面影響？請注意，雖然遮蓋了一隻眼睛，但你的另一隻眼睛並沒有弱視。

Now, if you truly want to experience what it is like for your child to have amblyopia and be patched full-time, you first need to reduce the visual acuity in the eye you are going to use for the experiment. Putting Scotch Magic Tape (translucent not clear) on the lens in your glasses over your good eye will suffice. Now, cover the good eye and just use the eye with the tape over it. Do not remove it even for a second during the day!

現在，要想真正體驗，弱視孩子全天遮蓋的痛苦感受，就需要降低另一隻眼的視力。將半透明膠帶貼在眼鏡片上，遮蓋一隻眼睛後，戴上貼有膠帶的眼鏡。就這樣戴著眼鏡，一整天都不要摘下來，一秒鐘都不行。

How do you feel, both visually and emotionally? Experience the difficulty you have working and going through your day. Now think about your child and understand what the patch is doing to him or her!

你有什麼感受？像這樣工作和生活一整天，對你的視覺和心理有什麼影響？現在請你認真思考一下，孩子在經歷什麼樣的痛苦！

I do this demonstration to all parents of children who come to my office wearing a patch. They always want to take the glasses off, but I persist and make them continue to wear the patch. I then give them a book and ask them to read; many begin to cry. Almost all are inconsolable when they truly understand what is being done to their child.

在我的診所，每次有家長帶著遮蓋的孩子過來，我都會請他們做這個實驗。在實驗過程中，家長總是忍不住想要摘掉眼鏡，不過我會讓他們繼續堅持。然後，我會給一本書讓他們讀，這時，很多家長都會哭出來。當他們切身體會到，遮蓋給孩子帶來的巨大痛苦，即使家長也難以忍受時，他們哭的都停不下來了。

I am sure that you can tell that I am not exactly a big fan of full time patching! Why? Based on the new studies in neuroscience, and from my own clinical experience, I know that I can obtain better and faster results using a much shorter duration of daily patching (if any is needed at all) with none of the disadvantages and negative side effects of full-time patching.

我想大家肯定也能看出來，我一點也不支持全天遮蓋。這是因為，根據大腦神經科學最新研究進展，以及我自己的臨床經驗，我知道，即使有遮蓋需要，每天短時間遮蓋，就能取得更好、更快的治療效果，根本無需讓孩子承受全天戴眼罩的痛苦。

Fortunately, for the cases where patching is necessary, we can achieve much better results in much shorter periods of time by wearing a patch only when doing vision therapy activities at home or in the clinic. If any longer patching is needed, good results can be obtained from wearing the patch for a maximum of 2-4 hours per day but not during school hours or while playing outside. I consider full-time patching to be a treatment that is unnecessarily difficult and cruel for many children.

他們只要在做視覺訓練時戴上眼罩，就可以在更短的時間，取得更好的治療效果。如果還需要更長時間的遮蓋，孩子也不用在學校或者外面玩時戴眼罩，只需每天在家遮蓋2-4小時，就可以達到很好的治療效果。我認為，全天遮蓋對孩子來說，是平添痛苦，甚至相當殘忍。