3 Ways to Ensure Your Glaucoma Eye Drops Are Effective

When it comes to glaucoma management, eye drops are often the first choice of treatment given the invasive nature of surgery and its risks. Glaucoma eye drops can be a highly effective way to lower your risk of optic nerve damage (by keeping your intraocular pressure under control). However, if you're not using them correctly, they won't be as effective as they should be. If you're having any trouble using your eye drops or you're worried they might not be working to the best of their ability, take a look at these 3 tips and tricks for improving their efficacy.

Close Your Eyes Afterwards

After you drip a glaucoma drop into your eye, do you start blinking rapidly? This is the most natural reaction since it's the body's best way of getting a foreign substance away from the eyes. However, eye drops are a foreign substance you don't want to get rid of. It's important to avoid blinking after using them. If you don't, some of the medicine will be flushed away through your tear system, reducing the drops' efficacy. Instead, it's best to close your eye for a moment afterwards. This way, you can keep the drops where they're meant to be without that feeling of irritation that comes with keeping your eye open.

Follow the Right Routine

Following a routine is one of the most effective ways to make sure your eye drops will work. If you miss doses, your eyes won't be getting as much medicine as they need, which can lead to your intraocular pressure becoming raised. Conversely, giving yourself too many drops close together can also be a problem because the second drop will dilute the first, reducing the positive effects. One great way to ensure you don't run into either of these problems is to set up a reminder on your phone that correlates with the dosage guidelines on your eye drop prescription, then set the snooze time on that alarm to around 5 or 10 minutes. Put the first eye drop in when the alarm goes off, then hit snooze. When the alarm rings again, you can do the second drop knowing you're not diluting the effects of the first.

Talk to Your Eye Doctor Regularly

Above all else, it's important to keep in regular contact with a doctor who has experience with eye problems like glaucoma and cataracts. They'll be able to tell you whether the glaucoma management strategy is working and offer you hands-on guidance on how to manage glaucoma more effectively. They'll also be able to see if you need to change to a different type of eye drop or if your glaucoma is worsening to the point of requiring surgery before the condition gets serious.