Is it okay if my drops "roll" off my eye?

[ryan12345]

Hi everyone.

I am using Restasis and loving it.

I have a question though. It seems that every time I put my drops in, at some point (whether it's immediately or a minute later), a "tear" of what I can only imagine is mostly Restasis falls out of my eye. I just cannot seem to get it to "stay" there. What's the secret? Should I close my eyes for a few minutes right after instilling a drop?

More importantly - is it bad/will the drop be ineffective if it "falls out of my eye"? Or is the fact that it was "in there" for at least a little bit enough for it to work?

[Guest]

Rule of thumb for medicated drops is to put it in, then close your eye for a couple of minutes to let it sit there longer. The excess will come out, but that's ok. If your puncta aren't plugged, then you can also apply light pressure to the inside corners of your eyes with a clean finger (for those couple of minutes where you are closing your eyes after instilling the drop) which will help prevent the drop from leaking out via your puncta.

After those couple of minutes are up, try not to use other drops for a while afterwards (I aim for 15 minutes, but even 5 minutes is better than nothing)... this way you won't be immediately rinsing out what's left of the medicated drops with some other drop.

[Hemu]

Yeah, from all what I've heard/read/spoken to docs about, the eye is capable of absorbing only 20% of the drop. The rest of it is waste. Which is why, they recommend instilling just one drop generally.

I think it's perfectly fine if part of the drop falls out, just make sure you have some of it be absorbed. What I generally do is pull my lower eyelid out a little and instill the drop. That way, it lasts longer and I hopefully get more absorption later. I also close my eyes for about 2 minutes as SAAG suggested.

[DCRdryeye]

I use Restasis, and the manufacturers recommend to close the eyes for at least one minute after applying. Then don't apply anything else (eg: artificial tears) for at least 20 minutes. After one minute or so my eyes also drip all down my face from the restasis, but I think it's the stinging that could also be making normal tears roll down. I have to splash part of my face from under the eyes with water, or wipe with tissues.

[soaps]

I do as the others but wat really helped was position dropper then look towards forehead with head tilted back and then pull lower lid gently . drop and immediately roll eye downwards slowly while tilting head back into normal positionthen gently release lower eyelid gently and close eye for 2 minutes. i read this on a handout and has really helped . i have plugs but wen i didn't, pressing on duct only squeezed drop out . as a rule if it falls out within ten seconds i add another drop. also make sure u don't use drops 15 minutes prior as ur eye can only hold so many drops. and make sure ointment is not in eye as this will affect absorption. a warm compress will clear out ointment.