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How to Put in Eye Drops

If your doctor prescribes eye drops to treat glaucoma or another eye condition, it’s important to use them correctly so that all the medicine gets into your eye.

Remember, eye drops for diseases like glaucoma can prevent your vision from getting worse. If you don’t use them correctly, you could lose your vision.

Use eye drops correctly

Follow these steps to put in your eye drops:

  1. Tilt your head back and look up
  2. With 1 hand, pull your lower eyelid down and away from your eyeball — this makes a “pocket” for the drops
  3. With the other hand, hold the eye drop bottle upside down with the tip just above the pocket
  4. Squeeze the prescribed number of eye drops into the pocket
  5. For at least 1 minute, close your eye and press your finger lightly on your tear duct (small hole in the inner corner of your eye) — this keeps the eye drop from draining into your nose

If you need to use more than 1 type of eye drop, like different drops for different eye conditions, wait at least 5 minutes between each type.

Prevent infections when you use eye drops

Follow these tips to protect your eyes from infection:

  • Wash your hands with soap and water before you use eye drops
  • Don’t touch the tip of the eye drop bottle with your hands
  • Don’t let the tip of the eye drop bottle touch your eye or eyelid

If you have trouble putting in eye drops, ask your eye doctor about special tools that can help.

A person washing their hands.

Last updated: December 5, 2024