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
on how to use eye drops and i'll share 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
the eye drops coming in or maybe of a child 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
in education all about the eyes and vision 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
and ring the bell so that you don't miss any 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
the bottle or the box for an expiration date 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
side effects and possibly cause a burn or 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
not going to contaminate the top plus a pro 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
I prefer to use my non-dominant hand to hold that lower eyelid down and that creates a
little pocket that essentially increases the 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
another key and important pro tip here is to 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
keep that medication to the eye and improve its effectiveness if you blink several times
all that's gonna happen is gonna flush those 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
eye after that you can then again close your eyes and punctual occlude for about 30 seconds
if you are applying the eye drop to yourself 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
otherwise if you use too many at a time you 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
last otherwise eye drops that you could be 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
and make it more obvious when you've gotten 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
now another cool thing i've been sharing is 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
new from today's video if you did smash that 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 dr allen keep an eye on it and we'll talk to you
soon