Cathy Thompson's daughter Mackenzie was just three years old when she was diagnosed with severe amblyopia, which is sometimes more commonly known as 'lazy eye.' Thompson had to patch Mackenzie's eye all day every day when she was first diagnosed, which often caused a few battles between mother and daughter. Thompson began to create her own eye patches for Mackenzie to wear that became so popular she's created her own company that aims to lift the stigma surrounding eye patches.

Thompson explained to TODAY Parents that when Mackenzie first needed her eye patch, there wasn't a lot of variety available. "At the time, the only eye patches available were the beige stick-on style or the old black 'pirate' eye patches," Thompson explained. "When she wore her stick-on eye patch, strangers would think she had injured her eye and were constantly asking her what was wrong with it. She was embarrassed and self-conscious, so I set out to design an eye patch that would make her eye patching time more comfortable and fun."

Thompson explained that while wearing the patch was greatly improving Mackenzie's vision, Mackenzie was not a fan of her patch. She didn't like wearing the patches at all so Thompson began to create her own cloth patches and let Mackenzie help decorate them to look like different animals. The patches were such a hit that Mackenzie's ophthalmologist encouraged Thompson to make more and sell at his office and she eventually started her own company called Patch Pals where she sells her patches to doctors and patients around the world!

Paige Brattin also started her own patch company called See Worthy Patches when she learned her then five-year-old daughter was losing her vision. "Our only choice to save and strengthen her vision was patching, but soon into the journey, we realized the products available left a lot of room for improvement," Brattin told TODAY Parents. According to their website, patching saved Brattin's daughter's eyesight, and she vowed to make patching easier for people of all ages.  "I created these patches because it was a product that hadn't seen innovation in too long. Too many families use patches — 18 million in the U.S. alone — to not see an upgrade."

See Worthy also states they are the first socially conscious eye patch on the market as a portion of their proceeds go "to vision screening awareness organizations who provide mobile vision screenings."

Amblyopia is very common in the United States so kudos to these women for doing their part to make patching easier, more comfortable and speaking out to help children who have to wear patches feel confident wearing them.

Read NextOne In Six Moms Have Problems With Their Vision During Pregnancy