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Instilling topical antibiotic and prednisolone eye drops

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judith93585
judith93585

I have a question about instilling the antibiotic and prednisolone eye drops. My technique seems a little lacking and the drop often lands on the edge of my lid. When that happens, I need to decide whether to supplement with another try. In others words, do you try again or assume something must have landed in the eye even if not a full drop and that's enough? Many thanks!

0 likes, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • trilemma
    trilemma judith93585

    Edited

    My technique is to lie back, and look straight up at the tip of the bottle. The image is fuzzy, because the distance might be an inch. I gently squeeze so a drop forms, and I don't know when it will drop. When it drops, it is to fast for me to blink.

    .

    I don't remember missing.

    • judith93585
      judith93585 trilemma

      Posted

      You're so lucky! I can hit the target practicing on my unoperated eye but not where it counts in my operated eye. Reminds me of bowling and gutter balls. I must be doing the same thing wrong each time because I keep hitting the same spot on the edge of my lower eyelid.

  • Guest
    Guest judith93585

    Edited

    I use a mirror. I tilt my head to the side, pull the lower lid down with my opposite hand, rest the thumb knuckle or my dropper hand on my cheekbone, and drop one drop into the pocket of the lower eye lid. Then I gently close the eye and lay down for a few minutes to let it soak in. If that doesn't work, you can actually buy a thingie that helps you put drops in. Search on "eye drop helper". But yes if you think you missed badly, I don't think there's any harm in trying a second drop.

  • judith93585
    judith93585

    Posted

    Thanks David. Have you seen a good video of that technique?

    • Guest
      Guest judith93585

      Posted

      i think the main thing, regardless if you tilt your head back or sideways or do it lying down etc. is to have somewhere to rest the dropper hand. If you just hold the dropped free in space it's going to move around and you will miss every time. Find a way to brace / rest that hand. There are a lot of videos on YouTube. Try searching on "how to use eye drops properly " or "tips for putting in eye drops 3 techniques". My thing is that i just drop the drop in the pocket not right on the cornea and then close my eye and tilt my head back.

    • judith93585
      judith93585 Guest

      Posted

      Thanks David. I just googled tips for putting in eye drops 3 techniques which brought up several promising videos!

  • RonAKA
    RonAKA judith93585

    Edited

    I recall that when I was doing the prescription drops after surgery I would lie down on the couch to get my head well back, and look straight up to put the drops in. I don't do that any longer with the dry eye drops I use two or three times a day. I just do it standing up but with my head well back. I think the secret is the bottom eyelid. I now use two fingers on the bottom eyelid and pull it well down to make a big target. You feel a successful hit with the drop, and vision will be blurry after for a few seconds.

    • Guest
      Guest RonAKA

      Edited

      One small tip I used was keeping the drops in the fridge. It just helps you know you hit the target (if you're not using a mirror) because you feel the cold drop.

    • judith93585
      judith93585 Guest

      Posted

      Thanks David! I was able to put the drop in my eye first time this morning. I think having more light in the room helps but maybe I've turned a corner on this challenging task!

  • trilemma
    trilemma judith93585

    Posted

    An enhancement is to push a finger over your tear duct that drains to the nose. If you don't drain to the nose, there treatment is at the eye longer.

    Try this Google search:

    tear duct press finger drops

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