How the business started
Founder's/Owner's story and what motivated them to start the business
Lisa Smith is the founder and creator of Eye Lids. She came up with this idea when she was struggling to get her daughter Madison to patch. When Lisa’s daughter, Madison, was three years old, she was told that she needed to patch for the treatment of Amblyopia. Finding a comfortable option for patching was nearly impossible. The adhesive patches seemed to be the only option available and for any parent who has tried adhesive patches on their children, they know how uncomfortable they can be and how upsetting it is to get your child to wear them. Lisa then with a relative knowledge of sewing and the help from her mother Lois, came up with the idea of a patch that would attach to glasses and be comfortable and fun for her daughter to wear.
Lisa started with an idea that utilized a cotton ball in a sleeve attached to the glasses that would press against her daughter's eye to keep it closed. She quickly realized that having the patch pressed against her eye wasn’t very comfortable and knew that she had to create something that covered the eye but left it space to open. This led her to creating the patches we know and love today that have a curved shape that allows the eyes to blink and open comfortably. Within a few years of patching her daughter's vision had greatly improved and she began to question if she could offer her patches to other families to help them with their patching journeys. Lisa launched a website and has now been selling these patches for 12 years on her website, an Etsy site, and through many eye doctors offices and Pediatric Ophthalmologists across North America and overseas. Lisa knows how important it is for parents to make their children happy. She takes pride in doing her best to fulfill the needs of all her clients and is always willing to go the extra mile to fill special requests so don't hesitate to ask!
Lisa found that when children have to wear an eye patch, it’s very difficult to help them understand why they’re wearing them. She thought that if we can put some fun into the process, it makes it a little easier for everyone. Lisa found that when children have a voice, are able to choose what they have to wear, or are able to have some choice of patches, it’s a huge motivator for them. Lisa is always on the hunt for new fabrics that children might like and does her best to keep a great selection of patches that kids will enjoy wearing. She is always willing to work with a customer, if they are looking for a specific character, or colour that their child might like, she will do her best to find something the child will like. Many parents have contacted her, to ask about making custom patches. This has also been asked for medical reasons, where a patch needs to be custom made to fit a child’s face, where they have a physical attribute which challenges the shape or size of the patch. Lisa has been very accommodating.
Lisa has also moved into the adult eye patch market, offering patches that are a little bigger, for double vision, cataract surgery care, and post surgery care.
Patching can be a difficult time for both you and your child. We hope that our patches and the information on our website help to make the experience easier for both of you.