How Did Steve 'Patch' Johnson Lose His Eye On Days Of Our Lives?
Since the day Stephen Nichols first appeared on "Days of Our Lives" way back in 1985 (via IMDb), an eye patch has been a part of his Salem character. In fact, Steve Johnson didn't even have a name when he first arrived on the scene and was just called nothing but "Patch." But then more of the character's past was revealed, and he began to soften after meeting Kayla Brady (Mary Beth Evans), who would go on to become the love of his life and mother of his children (via Soaps In Depth).
Through the years, Steve has had more than one glass eye that has gotten destroyed in one way or another, once again resulting in him sporting an eye patch as his signature accessory. How Steve lost his eye in the first place is a dramatic tale that turned friends into enemies, but later resulted in decades of forgiveness (via Soaps In Depth).
A fight over a woman destroys Steve's eye
Steve Johnson and Bo Brady (Peter Reckell) met when they were young men who had just joined the Merchant Marines. At one point, they met a pretty young woman named Britta Englund (Amy Stoch) who Bo fell madly in love with. They became known as three friends who would go to the ends of the Earth for one another, but they didn't know she was sleeping with both of them. She even insisted they all get matching dagger tattoos that actually signified a code to bonds she was trying to smuggle (via Soaps.com).
One night, Bo caught Steve and Britta in bed together and a knife fight ensued. Bo ended up taking out Steve's eye with the knife and he was given the eye patch to wear that would just become a part of him for the rest of his life. Eventually, Steve and Bo came to terms with what happened and lived as best friends once more, with Steve becoming Bo's brother-in-law when he married Kayla Brady (via Soaps In Depth).
Steve gets a new eye and loses it
After Steve Johnson married Kayla Brady on "Days of Our Lives," he became an upstanding crime-fighting citizen and joined the fictional International Security Alliance. As an ISA agent, Steve was given a glass eye for an undercover assignment. When his assignment ended, Steve grew used to life with two eyes and without an eye patch, but good things can't last forever on a soap (via Soaps.com).
By 1989, Kayla learned that her husband had been married before and that marriage was still valid. Steve's wife, Marina Toscano (Hunter Tylo), showed up in Salem hoping he could help her find a mysterious key. Steve and Kayla agreed to help Marina if she would give Steve a divorce and traveled to Italy with her. That is where they ran into some of Victor Kiriakis' (John Aniston) goons, as Victor did not want them to find this key. Sadly, Steve's eye socket and glass eye were destroyed again and the patch came back (via Soap Central).
Steve gets a bionic eye, but it doesn't last
Fast forward nearly 30 years to 2018 and Steve Johnson's other best friend, John Black (Drake Hogestyn), was blackmailed by dirty ISA agents into poisoning Steve. John did this as slowly as he could as not to kill Steve before he could fight his blackmailers. Little did he know, Steve's eyesight would be affected by the poison. After John was able to stop poisoning his pal, Stefan DiMera (then played by Tyler Christopher) offered Kayla Johnson a bionic eye to replace his lost eye and Steve had two eyes again (via Soaps.com).
Those two eyes even lasted until mad scientist Dr. Wilhelm Rolf (Will Utay) kidnapped Steve and implanted the "essence" of late supervillain Stefano DiMera into Steve's consciousness, making Steve truly believe he was Stefano. Known to fans as "Stevano", the character lived a secret life as Stefano for a while, but shocked Kayla when he dumped her because Stefano would never want someone as sweet as Steve Johnson's wife (via Soaps In Depth). Eventually, the truth was revealed and Stevano got into an altercation with members of the DiMera family, resulting in Anna DiMera (Leann Hunley) defending herself with a high-heeled shoe. That shoe got wedged in the bionic eye and when Stevano became Steve again, he got his eye patch back and all was right in the "Days of Our Lives" world (via Soaps.com).