Using Eye Drops or Eye Ointment after Eye Surgery

1. Read the instructions on the label of the bottle or tube. 

   • Which eye(s) get the medicine? 

   • How many drops or how much ointment will you give? 

2. Wash your hands well with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub.

3. Shake the bottle and remove the plastic seal and then the cap from the bottle or tube.

4. If your child can understand, explain simply what you are doing. If your child is not cooperative, you may need another person to help you.

5. Help your child get into a comfortable position. Any of the following may work well:

   • Tilt your child’s head back (have them look “up into the sky”).

   • Lay your child flat on their back. You may stay on either side of them or place their head between your legs with their feet facing away from you. 

   • If your child is a baby, wrap their body in a blanket with their arms tucked in by their sides. 

6. Carefully pull down your child’s lower eyelid. This will form a small sac to receive the drop.

7. Keep the dropper or tube tip from touching your child’s eye, eyelashes, or anything else.

8. For drops: hold the dropper above your child’s eye and squeeze one drop into the lower eyelid sac.

9. For ointment: place a thin line (about ½ inch) so that it falls into the sac. 

10. Remove your hand from the lower eyelid and ask your child to blink a few times to help the medicine spread around the eye. If your child can count, have them count the blinks with you. This will help to distract them. Vision may be blurry until the ointment dissolves. This may take a few minutes.

11. Wipe away any excess medicine with a clean tissue. Allowing an older child to do this themselves offers them some control.

12. Repeat the process in the other eye only if it is ordered.

13. If your child will be getting another type of medicine to the same eye(s), wait about 5 minutes. This will prevent the first eye drop from being washed out before it has had a chance to work. If both drops and ointment are being used in the same eye, always use the drop first.

Remember that eye drops are medicine. Store them as is written on the label (for example: in the refrigerator or out of direct sunlight) and always out of the reach of children. Always replace the cap immediately after using. 

Division of Ophthalmology

8:00am-5:00pm, Monday-Friday
215-590-2791

Evenings, weekends, and holidays
215-590-1000, ask the hospital operator for the ophthalmology resident on-call

Non-urgent questions
Send a message through the MyCHOP portal.

Reviewed March 2024 by Ivy Kuhn, MSN, CRNP