A surprising amount of prescribed eye medicine never reaches the eye. A few small changes fix that.
Eye drops look simple. In practice, a large share of every bottle ends up on the cheek, in the tear duct or in the back of the throat rather than on the ocular surface.
The method that works
- Wash your hands. Then tilt your head back, or lie down.
- Pull the lower lid down to make a small pocket between the lid and the eye.
- Squeeze one drop into that pocket — not onto the cornea itself, which triggers blinking.
- Close the eye gently for 60 seconds. Do not squeeze it shut, and do not blink repeatedly — blinking pumps the drop down the tear duct.
- Press lightly at the inner corner of the eye with a fingertip for those 60 seconds. This closes the drainage punctum and keeps the medicine where it is needed.
Points that matter
- One drop is enough. The eye holds roughly 30 microlitres; a drop is larger than that. A second drop mostly overflows.
- Wait five minutes between different drops, or the second simply washes out the first.
- Never let the nozzle touch the eye, lid or lashes. That is how a sterile bottle becomes contaminated.
- Shake suspensions before use. Products such as Mogem-LP and Blutob-F are suspensions — if you do not shake them, the dose is inconsistent.
If a drop stings sharply, or irritation increases rather than settles, stop and speak to your ophthalmologist.
