One of the more memorable workshops I have attended in recent years was hosted by my good friend Caroline Christie as part of a day of education focusing on dry eye. As always, most attendees were well up to date with regards to patient management. However, what made the session memorable was when the speaker passed a bottle of dry eye drops to everyone and asked them to instil a single drop into their own eyes. I confess to being among the several delegates who either managed to miss the target at least once or, more likely, managed to instil way more than one drop.
I remember this whenever I issue drops to patients, a large proportion of whom are elderly, may have dexterity problems, might be using drops for the first time and, in many cases, have visual problems. I am always on the look out for anything that may assist the patient in instilling drops and so was pleased to get my hands on a useful little gadget recently made available through the supplier Positive Impact Ltd; namely, the EziDrops Applicator Eye Drop Dispenser (figure 1).
EziDrops Applicator Eye Drop Dispenser
Made from recyclable plastic in a range of colours, the EziDrops is a simple guidance device with a small handle allowing it to be placed in front of the open eye such that the central opening is directly in front of the interpalpebral area while lids are held in place (figure 2). A small funnel allows the end of the bottle to be quickly located into position (figure 3) and then a single drop may be released into the eye which is being held open by the gadget (figure 4). Quick and easy.
Anything that improves compliance with drops has to be welcomed.
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
- Further information from www.positiveimpact.co.uk