How to Put in Eye Drops

Learn how to safely and effectively put in your eye drops.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Your eye drops and a tissue.

1. Open your bottle of eye drops. Be careful not to touch the tip of the bottle to any surface. You want to keep the bottle tip and the cover as clean as possible.

2. Wash your hands. If you are right-handed, you will want to hold the bottle of eye drops in your right hand. Use one finger of your left hand to gently pull the lower eyelid away from the eye. This creates a little "pocket" in which you can place the eye drop.

3. Hold the bottle of eye drops an inch or two above the eye. DO NOT get closer than an inch away from the eye as you could scratch your cornea with the tip of the bottle. This would be very painful and require medical attention.

4. With your bottle of eye drops being held an inch or two above your eye, gently squeeze the bottle, administering one drop into the eye, or the "pocket" you have created. This pocket increases the surface area, giving you a much larger target to hit with the drop. Release the lower lid and blink a few times. You are done!

Tips & Warnings

• Most eye drops only require one drop to get a full dose. Unless your prescription specifies "two drops", you can put in just one drop.
• Some eye medications need to be refrigerated. Check the label or ask your pharmacist to be sure.
• Some eye medications need to be shaken before use. If so, it should say this on your bottle of drops.
• If you have a problem with getting a bad taste in your mouth after putting in eye drops, you can solve this by gently pressing on the inside "corner" of the eye (closest to your nose) with your pinky finger while putting in drops. This will close off the nasolacrimal duct. Instead of excess drops going down this duct and giving you a bad taste, the drops will drain out of the eye and down your cheek.
• Again, be very careful not to get the bottle tip too close to your eye. A scratch is extremely painful, and you would need to see your ophthalmologist to be treated.