Putting in eye drops correctly comes down to creating a small pocket in your lower eyelid, landing the drop inside it, and then keeping your eye closed long enough for the medication to absorb. Most people get the general idea right but miss key details that affect how well the drops actually work. In one observational study of nearly 700 eye drop users, 41% touched the bottle tip to their eye or eyelid, 68% failed to close their eye afterward, and about 1 in 6 couldn’t get the drop into the right spot on the first attempt.
Before You Start
Wash your hands with soap and water and dry them with a clean paper towel. Hand washing is preferred over hand sanitizer because sanitizer can leave a residue that stings if it reaches your eye. If your eye has any crusty discharge, gently wipe it away with a clean cotton pad dampened with cooled boiled water or bottled water before applying drops.
Remove the cap from the bottle and set it on a clean tissue or paper towel, cap opening facing up. Never touch the dropper tip with your fingers, and don’t let it contact any surface. The FDA has documented cases of eye infections and acute inflammation caused by contaminated dropper tips touching the eye, eyelashes, or skin during self-administration.
Step-by-Step Technique
Sit down or stand in front of a mirror, whichever feels more stable. Tilt your head back and look up toward the ceiling. With one hand, use a fingertip to gently pull your lower eyelid down and slightly away from your eyeball. This creates a small pocket between your eyelid and your eye, which is where the drop needs to land.
Hold the dropper bottle above that pocket with your other hand. Hover it close enough to aim accurately but far enough away that the tip doesn’t touch your eye or lashes. Squeeze one drop into the pocket. You don’t need more than one drop per dose. The pocket can only hold about one drop’s worth of liquid, so extra drops just overflow and go to waste.
If you have trouble steadying your hand, try bracing the hand holding the bottle against the hand pulling down your eyelid. Some people also find it easier to rest the base of their palm on their cheek or forehead for stability. If you miss on the first attempt, that’s common. About 14% of patients in clinical observation needed more than one try to land a drop successfully.
What to Do After the Drop Lands
This is the step most people skip, and it makes a real difference. As soon as the drop lands, gently close your eye (don’t squeeze it shut) and press a fingertip lightly against the inner corner of your eye, right next to the bridge of your nose. Hold that gentle pressure for two to five minutes.
Here’s why this matters: every time you blink, your eyelids act like a pump that pushes liquid down the tear drainage channel into your nose and throat. That drainage channel is why you sometimes taste eye drops. Once the medication hits the blood-vessel-rich lining of your nasal passages, it gets absorbed into your bloodstream rather than staying in your eye where it’s needed. Clinical studies have shown that keeping your eye closed with gentle pressure on that inner corner for five minutes can reduce the amount of medication entering your bloodstream by roughly 65% to 67%, while increasing how much actually penetrates the eye.
At minimum, keep your eyes closed for one to two minutes. Resist the urge to blink rapidly, which is a natural reflex but works against you by flushing the drop away from the eye’s surface.
Using Multiple Eye Drops
If you need to use more than one type of eye drop, wait about ten minutes between each one. This gives the first drop enough time to absorb before you apply the next.
If you use both liquid drops and an eye ointment, always apply the liquid drops first. Ointments create a greasy film that blocks liquid drops from reaching the eye’s surface. So the order is: watery solutions first, thicker suspensions second, ointments last.
Eye Drops With Contact Lenses
Not all eye drops are safe to use while wearing contacts. Preservatives commonly found in multi-dose bottles can build up on the lens surface and damage both the lens and your eye over time. Preservative-free drops are generally safe to use with contacts in. Drops marketed to “get the red out” contain chemicals that can be harmful with long-term use, and the American Optometric Association specifically recommends avoiding them with contact lenses. If your drops aren’t labeled as contact lens-safe, remove your lenses before applying them and wait at least 15 minutes before putting your lenses back in.
Giving Eye Drops to Children
Getting eye drops into a young child who won’t hold still is one of the most common frustrations parents face. The closed-eye method tends to work well: have the child lie down with their eyes closed and their chin tilted slightly back. Place the drops in the inner corner of the closed eye, right where the eyelids meet near the nose. Then ask them to open their eyes, and the drops will wash in naturally. The advantage is that the child never sees the drop coming, which reduces fear and flinching.
For infants and toddlers who won’t cooperate at all, some parents apply drops while the child is sleeping. You can place drops on the closed eyelashes, and when the child opens their eyes (or you very gently lift the eyelid), the liquid flows in. Swaddling a young child snugly in a blanket, sometimes called the “burrito method,” can also keep their arms from grabbing at your hands.
Keeping Your Drops Clean and Effective
Multi-dose eye drop bottles should be discarded 28 days after opening, according to standard pharmaceutical guidelines. Even if there’s liquid left, the preservatives in the bottle become less effective over time and the risk of contamination increases with each use. Write the date you opened the bottle on the label so you don’t lose track.
Store your drops according to the label instructions. Some need refrigeration, which has a side benefit: a cold drop is easier to feel when it lands, so you’ll know immediately whether it hit the pocket or rolled down your cheek. Always recap the bottle right after use, and never share eye drops with another person.