Brigitte Keener, O.D., optometrist at #MayoClinicFL, demonstrates how to safely and effectively instill eye drops for patients who have prescribed drops for treatment of ocular conditions.
Hello there i’m dr. bridget keener i’m an optometrist at the mayo clinic in jacksonville florida today we’re going to talk about how to properly instill eyedrops putting in eyedrops is an important part of the treatment of many ocular conditions the most important thing is that you’re able to put them in safely and accurately to begin always read the instructions
From your eye care provider some eye drops have special instructions such as shake well before putting the drop in also be sure to always wash your hands before instilling eye drops in order to prevent contamination of the bottle going to remove the cap and place it on a clean towel next be sure that you’re seated comfortably and place your chin upward so that
The surface of your eye is parallel to the floor look up and with two fingers pull down gently on your lower eyelid squeeze the bottle and instill one eye drop close your eyes and gently wipe away the excess with a clean tissue okay great now let’s say you don’t have someone to help you at home we’ll review the same process if you’re doing this on your own assume
The same position placing the bottle in your dominant hand and using your two fingers of the non-dominant hand to pull down your lower eyelid tilt your chin up placing your head parallel to the floor using your non-dominant hand pull down gently on your lower eyelid raise the bottle and squeeze gently instilling one eye drop great job notice how he made sure to
Keep it a safe distance from his eye so as not to contaminate the bottle some patients report that it’s difficult to feel when the eye drop lands in the eye to make sure you’ve done so i recommend refrigerating the drop it’s easier to feel a cold drop landing on the surface of your eye before doing so make sure to check with your eye doctor to be sure it’s safe to
Refrigerate your eyedrops some patients were contact lenses as well if you’re a contact lens wear be sure to remove your tech lens before instilling the eye drop prescription eye drops are not intended to be used with contact lenses before resuming contact lens wear double check with your eye doctor to make sure it’s okay after surgery and in other cases you may
Have to use multiple eyedrops in order to do so you want to allow an adequate amount of time for each draft to be absorbed before instilling the next i recommend waiting about 10 minutes in between drops lastly your eye doctor may recommend something called punk tail occlusion this is a technique that allows the drop to sit on the surface of the eye and prevent
Systemic absorption in order to demonstrate punk dual occlusion you’ll put the eye drop in as previously demonstrated and you’ll gently apply pressure to the nasal puncta like so stay in this position for approximately five minutes to allow the drop to be absorbed i think that’s all of our tips for today do you have any other questions i don’t okay thank you so
Much for your time if you have any further questions feel free to check out our website at wwlp.com
Transcribed from video
How to Safely Instill Eye Drops – Mayo Clinic By Mayo Clinic
