Helpful Tips In Successful Instillation Of Eyedrops

January is Glaucoma awareness month. A trip to your eye doctor can preserve what remaining vision you have left if you have glaucoma. Early glaucoma exhibits no symptoms, therefore advanced testing, such as a threshold visual field, optical coherence tomography, and retinal photos, allows your optometrist to visualize nerve loss due to glaucoma. Although these tests are not part of a comprehensive eye examination, you doctor will perform these additional test when you exhibit a family history or other risk factors involving your personal eye health.

The focus of this article is how to improve compliance with eye drops that treat glaucoma.

Key points to remember if you’ve been prescribed eye drops:

1. Follow your doctor’s instructions 2. Be sure your doctor knows about any other drugs you may be taking, including over the counter medications such as vitamins, aspirin and herbal supplements. Also, inform your doctor about any allergies you may have 3. Wash your hands before putting in your eye drops or handling your medication bottle 4. Be careful not to let the tip of the dropper touch any part of your eye 5. If you are putting in more than one drop, wait five minutes before putting the next drop in. Your eye can only hold one drop before it spills down your check. This will keep the first drop you instilled from being washed out, by allowing it absorb into your eye and drainage canal (caniculi) 6. Store eye drops and all medicines out of the reach of children and pets. The best place to store them is in a refrigerator or at room temperature out of the humidity in that exists in your bathroom. Your car is the worst place to keep drops. Carrying drops in your pocket is ok, as long as the cap is tightly on, to prevent risk of contamination.

Steps For Putting In Eye Drops:

1. Start by tilting your head backward while sitting, standing, or lying down. With your index finger placed on the soft spot just below the lower lid, gently pull down to form a pocket. 2. Let a drop fall into the pocket. 3. Slowly let go of the lower lid. Close your eyes but try not to shut them tight or squint. This may push the drops out of your eye. 4. Gently press on the inside corner of your closed eyes with your index finger and thumb for two to three minutes. This will help keep any drops from getting into your system and keep them in your eye, where they are needed. 5. Blot around your eyes to remove any excess. If you are still having trouble, here are some tips that may help:

If Your Hands Are Shaking:

Try approaching your eye from the side so you can rest your hand on your face to help steady your hand. If shaky hands are still a problem, you might try using a 1 or 2 pound wrist weight (you can get these at any sporting goods store). The extra weight around the wrist of the hand you’re using can decrease mild shaking. If You Are Having Trouble Getting The Drop Into Your Eye:

Try This. With your head turned to the side or lying on your side, close your eyes. Place a drop in the inner corner of your eyelid (the side closest to the bridge of your nose). By opening your eyes slowly, the drop should fall right into your eye.

If you are still not sure the drop actually got in your eye, put in another drop. The eyelids can hold only about one drop, so any excess will just run out of the eye. It is better to have excess run out than to not have enough medication in your eye. Having Trouble Holding Onto The Bottle?

If the eye drop bottle feels too small to hold (in cases where a dropper isn’t used and the drop comes directly from the bottle), try wrapping something (like a paper towel) around the bottle.

You can use anything that will make the bottle wider. This may be helpful in some mild cases of arthritis in the hands.

If you don’t have glaucoma, these suggestions will help you successfully use eye drops to treat dry eye, or infections.