How long does it take you to recover from eye drops?

Just a few seconds, for me. I have to blink several times, and usually wipe off the excess that drips out of my eye. When I use gel artificial tears, my vision is blurry for maybe a minute or two after. Water in my eyes doesn’t bother me at all.

20 seconds sounds just about right for me as well.

Just a second. They’re not supposed to hurt, though. I throw it in and wipe off the runners.

My doctor doesn’t understand either. I need a minute to catch my breath and cool down. I think it’s psychological for me. Kind of traumatizing to have someone pin you down and put crap in your eye and you’re not supposed to use your natural defense mechanisms against it! Only thing worse is having someone give me a shot. (I can do that perfectly well myself, thanks.)

Wearing contacts for 30 years gets you immune to dropping things in your eye. I dropped a chair in my eye once. Didn’t faze me a bit.

I have worn contact lenses for most of my life, and I can poke, prod, touch, slide my finger around in, whatever… but you get water in my eyes? I turn into a huge baby. It burns, I have to squeeze my eyes shut, I rub them. It’s ugly. It drove my mother crazy when I was little, and she still doesn’t understand it to this day.
Though, neither do I. I don’t think it is psychological. It really does hurt.

It takes a few seconds for me too. I find it a quite unpleasant experience. Dropping the drop onto the inside of my lower lid and then closing my eye helps. It is a more gentle (and effective) way of getting the drop into your eye.

It takes awhile for me, maybe a good 30 seconds before the burning stops. I always wonder why I put drops in my eyes to stop them from itching and burning when the drops themselves burn so bad, make my eyes immediately water like crazy, go read and then I end up with puffy eyelids.

I can touch my eye no problem. I get eye lashes often in my eye, and even if one is sitting right on my eyeball I can put my finger on it and get it. It isn’t a thing about something in my eye, it is about drops of something or a splash. It hurts.

@JLeslie I’m with you. I agree, that sensation is different, and I do find it painful and it takes me a moment (or several) to recover.

@DigitalBlue Oh, I meant to respond to what you wrote. When I was little, to rinse my hair, I had to hold a towel over my eyes, head back, and my mom poured the water over my hair.

@JLeslie me too. My mother ended up cutting all of my hair off (into a really, really hideous, traumatic cut) because she became so frustrated with how distressed I would get when she washed my hair. I still don’t like putting my face into water or I won’t open my eyes when I’m swimming, etc. I also still hold a towel over my face if I am getting my hair done or something comparable, especially if my hair is being washed in a sink.
I do often wonder why I am so sensitive to it, especially considering that my eyes don’t seem to be particularly sensitive to other things.

@DigitalBlue My mom was good about it. My mom was pretty good about most things like that. She accomodated me, thank goodness, and almost never made me feel like I was being a pain nor that I was lying nor dramatic. I also have trouble swallowing pills, and she didn’t make me feel terrible about that it. Most people don’t understand that problem. My dad had less understanding and patience with these things, but he almost never had to deal with it, so it didn’t matter much.

I have learned to be able to force my eyes open under water if I have to, but 99% of the time my eyes are shut tight, and I am a swimmer. I always wear goggles when I swim.

Ah, @DigitalBlue ,someone else with a short haircut because of that! My mom paid my older sister to wash my hair because I was such a little pain about it!!
As far as drops go, I’m also a contact wearer, so I’m used to messing with my eyes… I also am just getting over a bout of conjunctivitis, and yes, those drops burned at first. I found my best method was lying on my back, holding my eye open with one hand, and dispensing the drop with the other. I use the preservative-free Thera Tears and aside from the difference in temperature, they don’t feel any different from my own tears.

@ccrow For conjunctivitis I always use ointment. One time when I was little a doctor for some reason insisted on prescribing drops and I remember my dad literally holding me down with all his weight and holding my eye open to get the drops in. My mom got another script for the ointment I think. Maybe my dad had taken me to the doctor originally? Not sure. Maybe he had not communicated to the doctor to give me ointment.

@JLeslie I just used what they gave me:-) First antibiotic/steroid combo, then just steroid when one eye got worse. DH had it first so I’m sure I got it from him, but I also had/have an allergy thing going on. They gave me a scrip for antihistamine drops for after I’m done the steroid, but I think I’ll see how I’m doing before I fill it.

I used neosporin opthalmic I think when I was little. Last time I needed an antibiotic for an eye problem I used eurthromycin I think, but I was allergic to it or something. Very irritating. I was not treating an infection that time, but using it to prevent infection, so I stopped using it after about three times, figuring I was safe.