Monday, March 31, 2008

Eye drops III

You probably never thought you'd get laughs out of reading the instructions for administering a medicine, but I got a chuckle out of reading the instructions for Natalie's eye drops, so I thought I'd share:

"First, wash your hands. Tilt your head back and with your index finger, pull the lower eyelid away from the eye to form a pouch. Drop the medicine into the pouch and gently close your eyes. Immediately use your finger to apply pressure to the inside corner of the eye and continue to apply pressure for 1 or 2 minutes after using the medicine. Do not blink and keep your eyes closed for 1 or 2 minutes. Remove excess medicine around your eye with a clean tissue, being careful not to touch your eye. Wash your hands to remove any medicine that may be on them."

As I've previously shared, this is how we administer the drops to Natalie:

"Pry the eyelids apart. As soon part of the eyeball becomes visible, drop the medicine into the eye. Eyelids immediately shut and child cries, forcing the medicine out of the eye and down the cheek. Repeat with the other eye. Parent wipes medicine away with clean tissue and washes hands."

After doing this for a week, I wondered how much good this is actually doing, since the medicine stays on her eye for less than a second (not 1 or 2 minutes!) so I called the glaucoma doctor about it. He said the instructions are ridiculous (actually, he used a word I don't use or write). He said what we're doing is helping, so we'll keep doing it!

1 comment:

Michelle said...

that is hilarious! I can't even attempt to pry Austin's eyes open cause he's squeezes them shut so hard there's nothing left to grab! I just put the drops on his tear duct and hope some makes it to his eye. LOL