Learn how to use eye drops PROPERLY! If you are struggling with how to put in eye drops by yourself, this video will review how to apply eye drops properly and safely so you don’t miss (wasting your eye drops) or hurting yourself.
In this video i’m going to show you how to use eye drops properly, many of my patients every day use eye drops on a regular basis and if you end up missing and it just ends up on the eyelid then you end up wasting your precious eye drops so i’m going to walk you through the proper steps some pro tips that’ll make it a
Lot easier and may even save you some money plus if you’re somebody who blinks a lot or flinches due to who can’t stand using eye drops then i’ll even share a smart way to getting eye drops in even with the eyes closed now let’s take a look hello and welcome this is dr allen here from the doctor eye health
Show helping with the best tips if you’re new here to the channel and you like learning about the eyes seeing your best then consider hitting that subscribe button down below of my future videos and this video is part of a complete series all about eye drops whether you’re looking for the best eye drops for dry
Eyes red dyes or itchy eyes if you want to check out the full series i’ll put a link to that in the video description below so you can find it easily now let’s go over how to apply eye drops easily and without missing step one is to always wash your hands you’re gonna be touching around your eyes and you’ll
Want to possibly give yourself an infection step two is to check the side of if it is expired then it’s best not to use it otherwise the active ingredients aren’t going to be working and you end up just getting more irritation to the eye step three is going to be shaking the bottle for about 10 seconds that’s
Gonna mix around the ingredients and improve the effectiveness of many eye drop medications now step four is to remove the cap of the bottle and place the cap on a clean surface such as at clean tissue paper or paper towel some place where it’s tip here is to observe the tip of the bottle for any coloration change
Because that could be a sign of contamination and you don’t want to be using those drops now step five here is going to be really important and that is to use your fingertips to hold down the lower eyelid that you’re going to be administering the drops in that lower eyelid down and that creates a target
Size for the eye drops to get in the eye and it’s usually best to get your fingertips right to the eyelid margin as that’s going to create a larger eyelid pocket and now step six is while you’re holding your lower eyelid down you’re going to lift your chin and your gaze up toward the ceiling and with your dominant hand
Holding the eyedropper you’re going to place a single eyedrop into the eye now it’s important not to touch the dropper to the eye or the eyelid because that could cause a contamination to the dropper and another pro tip is to not free float your arm up in the air because then it’s going to be harder for you
To hit that target of your eye instead what i like to do is rest my dominant hand on the back of the hand that’s holding the eyelid that way i can position it just at the right height only use a single drop at a time using more drops than one isn’t going to improve the effectiveness of the drop instead it’s just going to
Waste the drops and it may increase your chances of side effects step seven is that after you’ve gotten the eye drop in try to keep your eyelids closed without blinking keeping the eyelids closed will its effectiveness if you blink several times drops through the drainage canal of the eye down to your
Nasal cavity and the pro tip here is that you can even do punctal occlusion where you use your fingers to block the drainage canals of the eye if you feel right between your nose you can feel these little bumps right there that’s the drainage canal and so if you block that for about those 30 seconds with your eyelids
Closed that’s going to further reduce any of the drainage of those drops through the drainage canal and even helps prevent systemic absorption and potential side effects after that you can wipe away any excess drops from your eyelid with a clean tissue and then recap your bottle now if you happen to be someone
Who has a really hard time getting eye drops in because you’re always blinking or flinching or maybe you have a young child who has a hard time with eye drops there is a smart way of how to put in eye drops without flinching so let’s go over that now now in the eye clinic if somebody’s having a hard time getting drops
In we usually ask them to close their eyes so that way they don’t have to see the drop coming toward them and then they look up toward the ceiling you can alternatively also do this while laying down and then you can either put the drop in yourself or have a friend do it but you’re going to put a single drop
Right into the corner of the eye by your nose once the eye drop is in the corner you simply open your eyes and then you will feel the eye drop apply itself to the surface of the entire eyes and punctual occlude for about 30 seconds in this manner it’s important to first align the eye drops over the eye so you get
It in the correct position and not onto your eyelid a cool way you can do that is to just rest the bottle slightly on the bridge of your nose so you can actually see the front edge of the tip and then you just tilt it slightly down close your eyes and the drop should fall right in now there’s a few extra pro tips
About eye drops that i wanted to share just because i believe they’re going to help you out the first one is that if you are using multiple different eye drop medications you want to space those out by about 5 to 10 minutes could end up flushing out the previous eye drop in addition if you happen to be using any
Eye drop gels or ointments make sure to use those putting in if you put them in after you put in a gel or ointment the gel and ointment’s just too thick and the drops not going to get through now if you happen to be a contact lens wearer like myself it is always best to take out those contact lenses first
Before putting in any eye drops unless you were specifically told to do so by your eye doctor they do make re-wetting drops specifically for contact lenses that you can use while you’re wearing your contacts if you want to check out some of my favorite eye drops that work with contact lenses i have a video on that and
I’ll put a link up to that here in the youtube card above as well as in the video description below again so you can find it easily another cool tip is that if you’re somebody who’s just not ever sure if you got the drop into your eye then you can try refrigerating those eye drops because that’ll give it kind of a cooling
Effect it in if you’re not sure if your eye drop can be refrigerated always just ask your eye care provider or your pharmacist for more information that of nano dropper this is a special topper that screws onto your eye drops and reduces the amount of liquid coming out of the dropper by up to 70 percent
This is really important i think for anybody who uses eye drops on a regular basis like day to day especially for someone with glaucoma whose medications can get quite expensive with nano dropper you still get the same effectiveness of your eye drop you just are reducing the waste by up to 70 percent which can ultimately
Save you a lot of money on your eye drop medications if you want to check out nano dropper yourself i’ll put a link to their website in the video description below plus you can save 10 by using the discount code allen10 at checkout for your first order nanodropper is not sponsoring this video and i do not receive
Commission off of that they’re just really cool and they’re offering this discount for my viewers so i hope you learned something like button for me and drop a comment below of which part of the video helped you out the most if you’d like to learn more about the best eye drops for dry eyes red eyes or itchy eyes
Check out the video series right over here to the side by clicking tap on the screen otherwise again this is soon
Transcribed from video
How to Use Eye Drops PROPERLY! – Eye Drop Tutorial By Doctor Eye Health
