Do you have any secrets for getting eye drops in the eye?

Hold his eyelid open, or get the lazy bugger to do it himself.

I think I remember being told it is better to put the drop at the bottom of the eye. Otherwise, you can lose part of the drop because it splashes out and your eye waters. If you pull back the bottom lid, put the drop there, it will flush over the eye.

You turn your head to the side (ear to shoulder), put the dropper right on the outer corner of the eye, right up against the skin, and then squeeze, and then the drops just roll right into the eye. Make sure to tilt your head back up again right after squeezing, so the drop doesn’t continue to roll out of your eye.

This isn’t a life or death situation. I put drops in my eye while sitting at a stop light.

I don’t even know what advice to give you because it’s so easy it seems only fear is hindering you guys.

@XOIIO My husband doesn’t have the use of his right arm and he’s right handed. Otherwise he’d do it himself. He’s offered, but I think it would be even less effective than I am.
@Blackberry You’re right, it’s partly fear. He’s afraid I’ll poke his eye out and I’m afraid I won’t do it ‘just right’.

I had to use eye drops about five times a day for months and months and dropping it on the inside of the lower lid really helped me get them in and make sure the drop stayed where it was supposed to be. If I tried to drop them in from above, I would blink.

Gently pull the lower eye lid down and put the between the eye and the lid.

tilt your head to the right and back slightly, and let a drop into the side of eye close to the nose bridge. It reduces irritation.

I use one drop per eye when they feel dry – as recommended by my Doctor. I lie on my back keeping my eye open with one hand and dispense the drop with the other. I was told to keep the eye open for a bit before blinking. It took some practise but shouldn’t be too difficult to master. Why ten drops? Just curious.

I pull down the bottom lid and drop it in then blink, it works great and feels better too. Also i have to do it myself in a mirror, if anyone else tries to do it i freak out into a blinking overload and then my eyes close into a bear trap tight grip. Make him do it but have him try the bottom lid, hell be a pro in no time.

Prop your hand that has the dropper bottle on his forehead. Position of curse with the dropper directly over the center of his eye and of course not touching the eyeball.

Having your hand on his forehead establishes a precise distance that he can see so he won’t blink and you don’t have to worry about touching his eye either.

Produce the drop slowly so he’ll just see it up there. Suddenly the drop will drop and he can’t blink that fast it will be on his eye.

When I have eye drops I have difficulties because I’m blind in one eye so with the left one I can’t see where the dropper is or if I’m holding it in the right place. There’s a gadget you can get from the pharmacy that you put over the eye – it looks like an eye-bath with a big hole in the bottom. It helps hold your eyelids open, then you put the nozzle of the dropper in the hole and it holds the bottle in exactly the right place.

You won’t believe how simple this is. I can give myself eyedrops any time, no muss, no fuss.

The trick is to tilt your head back and slightly to the side so that the eye receiving the drops is higher than the other. This forms a natural “pool” at the inside corner of your eye against your nose. With me so far? Now close that eye (only) and simply drop the drops into that “pool”. Then when you open (and blink) your eyes the drops are in.

You don’t have to time anything; you don’t have to steel yourself to receive drops on your open eye, and you won’t ever hit the surface of your eye with the dropper.

I’ve never had to put drops in my own eyes, but when I need to give eye drops to my kids I do something very similar to what @CWOTUS described. It’s a trick I learned from a school nurse when I was a daycare teacher.

I have the kids lay down on their backs and close their eyes. I put a drop in the inside corner of each eye (or just the eye that needs it), then tell them to blink a few times. The eye drops naturally flow into the eye and the blinking spreads it around. Try that with your husband if he still isn’t comfortable doing the drops himself.

@zensky This will only go on for two weeks. It’s post-op for cataract removal.

Stop warning him. Knowing when it’s gonna happen seems to trigger his blink. And hold it open.

I’ve had to use eye drops on and off since I was 14. Now, I can do it without looking in about half a second, but really it’s not bad. The anticipation is what kills people.

I’d have him tilt his head up and look sideways away from the drop, so he’s not staring down the barrel so to speak. And you need to get closer to his eye.

I pull open my lower lid and drop the drops in there. It’d probably be easier if he did it himself.

As a nurse I was taught to pull out the bottom lid and drop into it, as has been said. Even if the top lid is madly blinking and shutting the drop still goes in.

Thank you all for your suggestions. Today went pretty well. The advice that works best for me, which I’ve only used 6 times, is to have him look up and then I pull down the lower lid corner nearest his nose and squirt. Then the only problem is if a drop came out of the bottle. I’m getting there. Only 8 days to go. After that, I’ll offer myself out to do other people’s eye drops.
There may be other idiots like me. I won’t charge. either.

[mod says] This is our Question of the Day!

What I do is tilt my head back a little more than looking straight up and turn my head so my nose moves down (if your doing your right eye, tilt up and turn your head to the left) so that the tear duct of my eye (corner by nose) is in the middle. It’s easier for the liquid to stay in the tear duct and then your husband can just blink and it should go in his eye.

Hope this helps!