How to Instill Eye Drops

Instilling eye drops whether they are prescription drugs or over-the-counter medications requires the same steps. Many people use eye drops for a variety of reasons but not many people know how to properly add drops to the eyes. The steps are easy to follow but as not as simple as just opening your eyes and letting the drops fall in. The eyes are a delicate mechanism and need to be treated with care, especially when inserting something into them.

Instructions

• 1

  Read the instructions on the bottle. Know how many times a day to use the drops, whether to put the drops in the right or left eye or both, and how many drops to use. If it is an over-the-counter medication, it also is important to know how to use the drops.

• 2

  Wash your hands. When instilling eye drops, you will be putting your hands near the eyes. It is necessary for your hands to be clean so as not to infect the eyes or add any dirt.

• 3

  Shake the bottle well if required. Most prescription eye drops are in a suspension solution, which means that the medicine has separated from the water that makes the drops a liquid. With some medications, just shaking the bottle up and down may cause bubbles to form, which could get into your eyes. With suspension solutions, you need to move the bottle back and forth several times or turn the bottle upside down to mix the solution.

• 4

  Form a pocket. Using an index finger, gently pull down on the area below your lower lid. This pulls the lower lid away from the eye, forming a small pocket.

• 5

  Put in the drops. Tilt your head back and look up toward the eyebrows. With your other hand, squeeze the eye drop bottle and let the drop fall in the pocket. Do not let the tip of the bottle touch the eye.

• 6

  Close your eyes. Once the eye drop is in, close the eyes so the drops are distributed around the entire eye. To prevent the drops from draining out the tear ducts and entering your system, gently press the index finger to the inner corner of the eye near the nose. Hold for one to three minutes.

• 7

  Wipe away any excess eye drops. Dab at your eye with a clean tissue to remove any excess eye drops. Use clean tissues that do not have moisturizers or other ingredients on them.