i guarantee that this will be the best and only tutorial you'll need
to know how to use eye drops correctly and stay towards the end of the video for dr eyeguy's
golden nuggets of wisdom to know how to use eye drops at a master level let's focus in
hey howdy everybody i'm dr neal guymon, dr eye guy with the tricks tips and tools to keep your
eyes the healthiest in your vision the clearest i do educational and review videos as well as
how-to videos just like this one so please subscribe for future eye guy videos also
check below for my golden nugget recommendations otherwise let's focus on how to use eye drops
correctly now eye drops are used for a lot of different things if you have an infection you're
sometimes given an antibiotic or if you have a lot of inflammation you're given steroid eye drops
also there are a lot of dry eye drops for those people that have a dry eye condition
so chances are in your lifetime you may come across needing to use an eye drop and that's what
this tutorial is for to guide you through step by step step number one is washing your hands really
well you will be touching in and around your eyes you do not want to deal with an eye infection
step number two is to make sure you check for an expiration date on the bottle or the
box that it came in the preservatives in the bottles will have a shelf life and can expire
also make sure that you know if you need to shake your bottle before you use it
sometimes you need to shake it to mix the ingredients step number three is to unscrew
the bottle cap and i want you to make sure that you put the bottle cap somewhere that is clean
i usually get a clean tissue and place it on there you don't want to put it on anything
that's dirty or has goobers on it because you can contaminate the lid and then contaminate the
bottle step number four i want you to examine the tip of the bottle if it has any yellow crusting or
brown stuff on it that usually means that it's contaminated and you do not want to use that you
want to chuck that bottle get a new one start fresh step number five you want to get ready
to put the eye drop in sometimes it's easier if you get in front of a mirror so you can actually
see yourself or if you want to do the lying down position that's going to work as well
step number six you're going to create the perfect area for this eye drop to go in and what i mean
by that is you're going to create a pocket an eyelid pocket for you to put that eye drop in
to catch the eye drop now to do this you need to get ready you're going to use your dominant hand
to actually hold the eye drop in just so you have more control and better dexterity with the other
hand your non-dominant hand you're gonna pull the lower eyelid down now there's two ways you can do
this you can form a fist and actually use your knuckles to pull that bottom eyelid down or you
can use your actual fingertips to grab that bottom eyelid to pull it down now a little tip here is
where you're going to pull the eyelid sometimes people will grab on their bottom eyelid or near
their cheek and they'll pull down but it doesn't create a pocket that well if you actually kind of
pull closer to the eyelid margin or up higher on the eyelid and then pull from there you'll get a
lot more surface area where you can put that eye drop in and it creates that pocket on that eyelid
a lot easier step number seven you're now ready to put the eye drop in important note here when
you're getting close to the eye with a bottle you want to make sure you're not going to touch the
eyelashes the eyelid or the eyeball you might contaminate the bottle also if you actually
touch or rub on the eyeball you might cause an abrasion or scratch your eyeball
now when you have your non-dominant hand that's pulling the eyelid down you can take your dominant
hand with the bottle in it and actually rest on that non-dominant hand this will serve as a base
or a stabilizer for your hand so you're not just waving in the air and trying to hit the target
of your eyeball that will actually as it acts as a stabilizer so you can hold still and actually
get that drop in your eye now that you have the eyelid pocket and you have your eyes stabilized
you tilt your head back and you have that pocket ready you squeeze the bottle
just enough to squeeze one drop out falls right in that pocket and then you can close your eye
now step number eight once you have the eye drop in there you want to keep your eye closed and just
add extra punch or effectiveness to that eye drop you're going to do what's called the punctal hold
or the punctal block now there are small little drainage tubes right in the inside corner of our
eyelids that's where all of our tears are flushed down and just to keep the eye drops on the surface
of the eye you can actually take your fingertip any finger and just push or hold right on the
inner corner of the eyelids and that will block or pinch off that drainage tube allowing the drops to
stay in your eye longer getting more effectiveness from the drop now a little tip here is when you
put the eye drop in try and keep your eyes closed for about 30 seconds if you put the drop in and
just start blinking and blinking away you'll flush that drop out and sometimes actually push the
drop off the side of your eye so if you put the drop in keep your eyes closed for a little
bit and also do that punctal hold you'll get the best use out of that eye drop in your eye
step number nine is now you can finally put that clean cap back on the bottle and
store it correctly check the instructions or check with your doctor to see how this needs
to be stored some eye drops are better stored in the refrigerator now that you stay towards the end
of the video it's time for dr i guy's golden nuggets of wisdom to bring your eye drop use
to the master level golden nugget number one if you happen to be using two different eye drops
you want to make sure that you use the first eye drop and then wait five to ten minutes to use the
second eye drop if you use them right after each other then they'll just wash each other out golden
nugget number two don't use eye drops while you're wearing contacts unless you were told to do so by
your eye doctor there are certain eye drops that have preservatives in them and these preservatives
can actually damage the contacts also contact lenses can sometimes soak up the preservatives
or the active ingredients in antibiotics or steroids and it'll be a constant contact on
your eye and irritate the eye now there are eye drops used for dry eyes that you can use for
contacts and if so actually say on the bottle or on the box that they're safe to use for contacts
golden nugget number three if you have a hard time actually squeezing the bottle to get the drop
out because some bottles are actually pretty stiff and can be pretty difficult to get that drop out
they make certain tools or instruments that you can use to help squeeze the bottle i'll post some
links down below so you can check those out on amazon also there's some other tools to help you
get eye drops in your eye some of them are kind of weird looking and kind of funny but i'll post
the links below so you can check those out golden nugget number four if you're one of those people
that flinch or even have a hard time keeping your eyes open one little tip that you can do
while you're getting used to the eye drops is try not to hold the eye drop really high from your eye
number one that's going to make it hard for you to get the eye drop in your eyeball but number
two when it's really high up that eye drop will almost feel like someone's doing a cannonball in
the tears of your eye and it'll be really jarring to the eye and it'll make you flinch even more
if you're able to do it a little bit closer without touching your eye then that sudden
drop on your eye won't be so jarring and will be a little bit more gentle golden nugget number five
now if you're somebody that no matter what your eyelids are clenching down you cannot get your
eyes open it takes your family members to hold your arms down and to pry your eyelids open then
you might be one that would be best to actually close your eyes to put the drops in now i'll have
a video coming out about how to put drops in kids eyes and that's one of the techniques that we use
is to have them close their eyes to put the eye drops in let me demonstrate that really quick so
you're going to want to lay down for this one and position your head in the way that it'll be able
to catch the eye drop in the corner of your eye the inside corner of the eye so right between the
nose and the eyelid so when you close your eye you want to try and aim that eye drop for that inner
corner now for this one you probably want to use two drops you may go through eye drops a little
bit faster but when you have your eyes closed you're going to put two drops in that corner that
nasal corner and then the only tricky part is once you get the drops in there and you're able to keep
the drops from flowing down your cheek because you're lying down you want to be able to try
and blink or open your eye just a little bit and that drop will fall and slide right into your eye
golden nugget number six you want to pay attention to the colors of the eye bottle cap or the tip of
the eye bottle a lot of different antibiotics and medications glaucoma medications steroids
dilation drops they all have a color coordinated system going on
and so you want to pay attention to that one color i'd pay specific attention to would be to
see if your eye drop has a cap that's red or the eye tip is red that means do not put it directly
in your eye a lot of the dilation eye drops will have a red cap to them that means it's going to
dilate your pupil it will make your vision blurry for a little while also there's a contact lens
solution that has a red tip to it meaning stop red means stop don't put it directly into your eye
that certain contact lens solution has made of hydrogen peroxide if you put it directly into
your eye it will burn usually people that make this mistake only make this mistake once because
it hurts okay now that you've gone through dr i guys golden nuggets of wisdom you should be
able to use your eye drops at a master level now make sure to check my other videos where i have
tutorials on how to use eye ointment correctly as well as how to put eye drops in kids eyes
if you got value out of this video be sure to hit that like button for me and if you have any
comments or questions i am here to help leave them down below again i'm dr neal guymon dr
eyeguy looking out for you in your eyes stay focused and i'll see you in the next video