Can you use eye drops if you wear glasses?

Yes. Wearing glasses doesn’t stop you from using lubricating eye drops. Take your glasses off, put in the drop as the label directs, close your eyes for a moment and blot any excess before putting them back on. Glasses are different from contact lenses, which sit on the eye; Quell’s label doesn’t give directions for contacts, but glasses don’t touch the eye at all.

Glasses vs. contact lenses

People ask this because drop packaging so often mentions contact lenses. The difference is simple: a contact lens rests on the eye’s surface, in the tear film, so anything you put in the eye meets the lens too. Glasses sit on your nose, a short distance in front of the eye, and never touch the tear film. A drop that reaches your eye doesn’t interact with your glasses at all, as long as it doesn’t land on the lens.

Quell’s label doesn’t give directions for use with contact lenses. If you wear contacts some days and glasses others, ask your eye doctor how to handle drops on contact days. On glasses days, the label’s directions apply as written: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Can I use Quell with contact lenses? covers the contact side.

How to put in eye drops when you wear glasses

• Wash your hands.
• Take your glasses off and set them lens-up on a clean surface, or fold them into a case.
• Tilt your head back, pull the lower lid down gently, and put one drop into the pocket.
• Keep the bottle tip from touching your eye or lashes. The label says Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.
• Close your eyes gently for a moment. Don’t squeeze or blink hard.
• Blot any excess from your lid and cheek with a clean tissue.
• Do the other eye, then wait a minute or two before putting your glasses back on.

Taking the glasses off matters. Trying to aim a drop under a frame almost always ends with the bottle tip bumping the frame or a drop landing on the lens. How to use eye drops as directed walks through the basic technique in more detail.

If you can’t see well without your glasses

Many people who wear glasses for distance can still see the bottle up close, but if you’re very nearsighted or farsighted, aiming without glasses can feel awkward. A few things help:

• Use a mirror on a table and sit down, so your elbow rests on the surface.
• Rest the hand holding the bottle on your forehead or the bridge of your nose for steadiness.
• Lie down on a bed and look up at the ceiling; gravity does most of the aiming.
• Keep the bottle at room temperature, within the label’s range of Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F); a drop at room temperature is easy to feel landing, so you know it went in.

Waiting before putting glasses back on

There’s no required waiting time for glasses on the label. A minute or two simply lets the drop spread across the eye with a few gentle blinks and lets you blot away anything on the lids. Putting glasses on immediately tends to trap a wet lid against the lens, and the first blink leaves a smear. If your vision is briefly blurry after a drop, wait until it clears before driving or doing anything that needs sharp sight.

Drops on your lenses

Sooner or later a drop lands on a lens. Quell is an oil-and-water formula, and the label notes it Product appears as a milky brown solution, so a drop on a lens leaves a cloudy, slightly greasy mark rather than a clear water spot. Don’t wipe it with your shirt, which spreads oil around. Rinse the lenses under lukewarm water, use a drop of lens cleaner or a tiny bit of mild dish soap, and dry them with a clean microfiber cloth. Anti-reflective and other lens coatings can be damaged by harsh cleaners, so stick to products your optician recommends.

Glasses as a shield

Glasses do more than correct vision; they also block some of the air moving toward your eyes. That helps outdoors on windy days and in front of a fan or car vent. Wraparound frames and sunglasses with curved lenses block more than flat, small frames. Some opticians offer frames with side shields, and prescription sunglasses are worth considering if you spend a lot of time outside. Keep your lenses clean, too: smudged lenses make people squint, and squinting goes with fewer complete blinks.

Reading glasses, screens and dry eyes

Reading glasses and computer glasses are often worn for close work, which is exactly when blinking slows. If your eyes feel dry while you read or work at a screen, the glasses aren’t the cause, but the task is. Look up from the page or screen every so often, blink fully, and use your drop on the label’s schedule rather than waiting until your eyes feel scratchy. If you’re squinting even with your current glasses, an updated prescription may help, and that’s a question for your eye doctor.

When to see your eye doctor

Your glasses prescription check is a good time to mention dryness. An eye doctor can look at the eye’s surface and work out what’s behind it. Don’t wait for that appointment if something changes, though. The label is direct: Stop use and ask a doctor if you feel eye pain or changes in your vision, if irritation or redness continues, or if the condition worsens or persists for 72 hours.. The dry eye self-check can help you organize what to tell them.