A New Positioning Aid for Eye Drop Instillation

Abstract

Purpose: : To assess the usefulness of a new bull’s-eye positioning aid for eye drop self-administration and to compare this aid to standard instillation.

Methods: : Patients with visual acuity >20/400 who used eye drops daily were recruited from both a private glaucoma practice and from the Infirmary glaucoma clinic. Participants were observed while instilling artificial tears using their routine administration technique. Time to instill the drop, location of the applied drop, and any location of contact between dropper tip and eye or periocular tissue were recorded. Participants were then briefly trained to use the positioning aid, and allowed to practice until comfortable. We then observed participants using the positioning aid and all measurements were recorded again. A multiple-choice questionnaire elicited subjects’ opinions of the aid.

Results: : We recruited 110 subjects, 50% from the private office. For unaided and dropper aided instillation respectively, accuracy of instillation was 86.4% and 83.3% (p=0.584, Chi-square), and contact was 7.8% and 51.8% (p<0.001, McNemar Chi-square). 82.4% (95%CI: 75-89.8%) of participants found instillation with the new positioning aid easier than or as easy as unaided instillation and 69.6% liked using the new aid.

Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: systems/equipment/techniques • quality of life