Eye drops are a godsend if you work full-day in an air-conditioned office, and spend most of your awake time looking at the screens of your PC and other mobile gadgets, like many a typical Singaporean.
Most regular eye drops, or artificial tears, are easily available at any pharmacy, and there are usually no clear instructions on the dosage. Most typically contain the rather unhelpful message of “as often as required”. Of course, too much of something is never good, especially when it comes to chemical products.
Is it possible to overdose on eye drops, or even develop a reliance on it? Can one reach a point when dry eyes become unresponsive to eye drops?
Happily, it is not quite possible to get addicted to eye drops. According to WebDM, it is not possible to become overly dependent on artificial tears lacking preservatives. These eye drops contain harmless moisturizing substances and no medication, so they can indeed be used as often as required.
If you find that you have to increase the frequency of using eye drops, or you’re having to utilise it so extensively that it becomes intrusive to your lifestyle, you should seek medical advice from a doctor. In the case of severe chronic dry eyes, other more suitable treatments would have to be sought.
A frequent need to use eye drops can also be due to inappropriate administration, leading to wastage and inadequate lubrication. In a bid to save time, many of us tend to just drip the drops in, blink rapidly and go about with the task at hand. Often times, you may also find that some of the eye drops just roll down your face. Here are the right steps to administer eye drops so you maximize their usage:
1) Wash your hands before handling the eye drop container. Do not touch the tip of the dropper as you could contaminate it.
2) Tilt your head upwards, and aim the drop in the outer corner (away from the nose bridge) of your eye.
3) Don’t blink rapidly. That does not help with absorption of the drop, but will instead, pump the drop out of your eye. Blink normally, or simply close your eye.
4) Do not use tissue to dab at your eye. Instead, place a clean finger where the eye meets the nose bridge to keep the drop from draining.
5) One drop at a time! The eye only has the capacity to hold on to one eye drop. So take a break and close your eye after one drop, and only administer the next one when that drop has gone in.
If you are wearing contact lenses, that restricts the types of eye drops you can use with it. Eye drops that can be used with contact lens will have something to the effect of this stated on the package: Safe to use with contact lens.
To improve your eye health and avoid relying on eye drops, it is important to give your eyes ample rest from all the electronics. When we are focused on staring at our screens, we tend to blink less and that causes your eyes to feel tired, dry and strained. Chronic dry eyes can be a major annoyance as they tend to feel tired, itchy and even painful throughout the day.
Every 30 minutes, stop your work, look away and close your eyes, or blink them at normal speed until they feel moist. Every hour, stand up, stretch, go to the window and look out at the trees. Not just your eyes, but possibly your entire well-being will feel better with these little breaks. Above all, never rub your eyes no matter how tempting it may be. It may feel momentarily satisfying, but you risk injuring your eyes.
Eye drops that relieve eye redness are a different matter altogether. Rebound eye redness is a side effect of overuse of eye drops intended to relieve eye redness. Over-the-counter eye drops reduce redness, but do not get rid of the cause of the redness, which could be due to inflammation, cornea scratch etc. Prolonged overuse of eye drops to relieve redness without solving the problem can cause permanent redness and damage to blood vessels in the eye. If your red eye persists for more than 24 hours with no improvement, it is advisable to see a doctor.
References:
http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/dos-and-donts-when-using-eyedrops/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/175250-side-effects-of-over-using-red-eye-drops/
http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/eyedrops-an-ocean-of-uses?page=3
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