cyclosporine

Make sure you know how to use cyclosporine (Restasis). Ask your pharmacist or eye specialist if you have any questions.

Put cyclosporine (Restasis) into the affected eye(s) twice a day, about 12 hours apart. If you use other eye drop medications too, wait at least 15 minutes between each medication. This gives your eye time to absorb each medication properly.

Take out your contact lenses from your eye(s) before you use cyclosporine (Restasis). Wait at least 15 minutes before you put your lenses back into your eye(s). Ask your eye specialist if you should keep wearing contact lenses or switch to glasses since contacts can sometimes make dry eye worse.

Wash your hands before you put cyclosporine (Restasis) drops in your eye(s). Don't touch the dropper tip with your hands, and don't let the tip touch your eye or any other surface. This helps prevent eye infections by lowering the risk of contaminating the medication. You might get prescribed two bottles of cyclosporine (Restasis), one for each eye, to lower the risk of contamination.

Tilt your head backward and look up. Gently pull your bottom eyelid down to make a small pocket. Then, hold the cyclosporine (Restasis) bottle upside down right above the eye. Squeeze the bottle so that 1 drop of medication falls into the pocket. Close your eye. Then, press a finger against the inside corner of your eye for about a minute to help keep the medication in your eye.

Throw away the 0.4 mL single-use vials after placing the drop in your eye(s). Don't save any leftover medication. Use each single-use vial just once. They don't have a cap that you can put back on like the Restasis MultiDose bottles do.

Store cyclosporine (Restasis) at room temperature (between 59 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit). Keep the medication in the original package to protect it from light.

Each time you use a new bottle of Restasis MultiDose, prime the bottle before you put any of the medication into the eye(s). Take off the olive green cap and squeezing two drops of medication onto a tissue. Don't let the tip of the bottle touch the tissue.

Before using Restasis MultiDose, turn the bottle upside down a few times. This makes sure the medication is mixed well. Don't shake the bottle really hard.

After each time you use Restasis MultiDose, put the green cap back on the bottle until you need to use it again. The cap helps prevent germs from getting into the medication.