Table 1.

Steps of proper eye drop technique

1. Wash hands to keep the bottle clean when touching it

2. Mix the medication by turning the bottle over several times. Shaking the bottle introduces unwanted air bubbles, but turning the bottle over mixes the medication without creating air bubbles

3. Squeeze the bottle firmly for just long enough to squeeze out one drop, not several drops or a stream of drops. The eye can only hold one drop, so squeezing out multiple drops, even if they are aimed accurately, tends to cause liquid to spill out of the eye and down the face

4. Hold open the lower eyelid with a finger of the nondominant hand to expose the conjunctival sac

5. Get the drop accurately into the eye or inferior fornix

6. Avoid touching the eye or face with the bottle tip at any time because of risk of contaminating the bottle with facial microbes

7. Close the eye after instillation for at least 1 min without squeezing it shut

8. Alternatively, perform punctal occlusion by placing a finger over the tear duct and exerting gentle pressure to prevent the medication from traveling through the tear duct into the nose

9. Remove excess fluid from the face with a tissue to avoid localized side-effects on the skin