How Not to Use Eye Drops – (303)393-0347

It seems like putting in eye drops should be simple, but it really isn’t.  Studies have shown that over 50% of patients do not use their drops correctly.  The most common error is touching the tip of the dropper to the eye and contaminating the contents of the bottle with bacteria.  Don’t do that!  The second error is using too many drops.  The eye only holds 1/10 of a drop so if you put one drop in the eye correctly, and then blink or close your eye, 90% of the drop will be squeezed out of the eye and run down your face.  That’s normal.  When the drop runs down your face don’t assume you missed and that you should put in more drops. The third error is using too many drops,  The eye only holds less than one drop so don’t put in 2, or 10, drops.  You’re just wasting the extra drops.  The last error is not following the correct instructions for the daily schedule for the drops.  For example if the drugs are prescribed to be used four times a day, over 50% of people forget at least one of those drops each day and 10% use the drop more than four times a day.