Can eye drops freeze in a cold car?

Yes. Eye drops are mostly water, and a car parked through a freezing night can get cold enough to freeze them. Even without ice, a cold car takes a bottle below the range on Quell’s label, which says Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). Bring your drops inside with you in winter. If a bottle did freeze or sat in the cold, let it warm up on its own, look at it, and ask a pharmacist before using it if anything seems off.

Do eye drops freeze?

Water freezes at 32°F, and most of the volume in a lubricating eye drop is water. Dissolved ingredients and oils can shift the exact point a little, so a bottle may turn slushy, partly solid or stay liquid on a given night. Nobody can tell you from the outside of the bottle exactly when that happens, and this site won’t guess at a number the label doesn’t give.

What the label does give is a range. The storage line on Quell’s Drug Facts panel reads Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). The bottom of that range is well above freezing. So the useful question isn’t only whether a bottle turned to ice. It’s whether it spent time colder than the label allows, and in a parked car on a winter night, it almost certainly did.

How cold does a parked car get?

A parked car has no heat source of its own. Once the engine is off, the cabin cools toward the outdoor temperature over a few hours, and on a clear, calm night it can end up close to it. The trunk, the glove box and a door pocket all follow the same slide. A purse or gym bag left on the seat slows the cooling a little but doesn’t stop it.

That’s the winter twin of a better-known problem. In summer, a closed car in the sun climbs far above the top of the range, which Can you leave eye drops in a hot car? covers. In winter the risk runs the other way, and it lasts longer: a car can sit below the label’s range from evening until mid-morning.

Can you use eye drops after they freeze?

The label doesn’t say, and this guide won’t fill that gap with a yes. Freezing can push on the bottle and its tip, and water and oil-based ingredients can behave differently as they cool and warm. Here’s a careful way to handle a bottle that froze or got very cold:

• Bring it inside and let it come back to room temperature by itself. Don’t run it under hot water, set it on a heater vent or put it in a microwave.
• Once it’s warm, look at it in good light. Quell’s label notes: Product appears as a milky brown solution. The eye drops have a naturally milky-brown appearance. This is normal and does not indicate a problem with the product. Compare it with how it looked before the cold.
• Check the label’s Do not use line: If this product changes color. If the color has changed, don’t use it.
• Look for cracks, a leaking tip or a cap that no longer closes cleanly.
• If anything looks different from when you opened it, or you simply aren’t sure, ask a pharmacist before putting it in your eye.

When in doubt, start a fresh bottle. A replacement costs far less than a worry about what went into your eye.

Where to keep eye drops in winter

• In the house, in a drawer or cabinet away from the furnace register and the bathroom’s steam.
• In an inside coat pocket or a bag you carry indoors, where body warmth keeps it from getting very cold.
• At work, in a desk drawer or locker rather than the truck.
• On a road trip, in the cabin with you while you drive, then inside the motel or house each night. Eye drops for a winter road trip covers longer drives.
• Not on a windowsill, in a garage, or in a mudroom that isn’t heated.

Will eye drops freeze in the mail?

A package can spend time in unheated trucks and on cold doorsteps. Quell ships from Brentwood, Tennessee to US addresses, and no delivery date is promised, so there’s no way to time an arrival around a cold snap. Bring the box inside as soon as you can, let it warm before you open it, and look at the bottle before first use. Eye drops shipped in hot or cold weather has more on deliveries.

If an order arrives with a cracked bottle, a leak or a broken seal, it’s replaced; contact Aurora Pharmaceuticals, LLC at 615.465.6041, M–F 9AM–5PM CST. An unopened bottle you’d rather not use can be refunded within 30 days of delivery without being sent back.

Can you put eye drops in the freezer?

No. Nothing on Quell’s label calls for freezing or even refrigerating it, and the freezer is far below its range. Should eye drops be refrigerated? explains why a cold bottle isn’t automatically a better one. If you like the feel of a cool drop, that’s a question for your pharmacist, not the freezer.

Cold weather and your eyes

Cold, windy air and dry heated rooms are both hard on the tear film, so winter is also when many people reach for drops more often. Keep using them as labeled: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss. If you need more than the label’s directions to stay comfortable, or your eyes hurt or your vision changes, see an eye doctor. The full label is on the Drug Facts page.