Blog response: Wenky's eye drop misadventure

http://wenkyland.blogspot.com/2007/04/amidst-swelling.html#comments

How to apply eye drops - the better way.

A lot of people apply eye drops using the following method:
1. Open eye
2. Drip the amount stipulated
3. Close eye
4. Shake head

- This will cause poor adsorption/absorption and some of it will run down into your mouth.

Proper methods should be used to instill eye drops especially those on anti - HTN and have glaucoma as well. I.e. Patients using timolol eye drops may experience drug-induced heart failure or orthostatic hypertension as the drug starts working systemically instead of just within the occular region.

The correct way:

1. Place thumb and index finger at the top of your nose.
2. Press down on lower eye lid and pull gently down
3. You may be able to see a tiny hole in the edge of the eye lid (in the mirror), that is a duct which you should press on if not the drug will flow into your mouth instead of staying on your eye.
4. Practice a few times holding down your lower eye lid to form a cup for holding your eye drop while maintaining a good amount of pressure on the duct.
5. When applying eye drops, always apply only 1 drop every 5 mins - this is the max amount your eye can take at one go.
6. Carefully drip one drop into the cup you form from the lower eye lid and slowly close your eye. If you close too fast, you may extert too much pressure, causing the eye drop to spill out.
7. Move your eyes through 6 cardinal points while closing your eye to distribute the eye drop evenly.

You may wish to do this one eye at a time and remember - only 1 drop per eye per 5 minutes while pressing on the duct.

With the eye drop flowing down the throat, the taste would be usually horrendous as the formula for eye drops do not allow flavourings or masking agents. =.=.