How do I know if my eye drops have gone bad?

Check five things: the expiration date on the bottle or carton, whether the solution looks different from when you opened it, whether it was stored outside the range on the label, whether the tip touched anything, and whether the cap was left off. Quell is milky brown from the start, so that color is normal; a change from it is not. When in doubt, replace the bottle or ask a pharmacist.

How to tell if eye drops are expired

The date is printed on the bottle label and on the carton, usually as “EXP” with a month and year. Federal rules require it in both places, so if one has worn off, check the other. A bottle past that date shouldn’t be used, even if it’s still sealed and looks perfect. Our guide to where the expiration date is on eye drops shows where to look and how to read the formats.

Color: what’s normal for Quell and what isn’t

Many eye drops are clear, so a cloudy one can look wrong. Quell is the other way around. The label says: Product appears as a milky brown solution. And as we tell every new customer, The eye drops have a naturally milky-brown appearance. This is normal and does not indicate a problem with the product.

What the label does warn about is change. Its “Do not use” line reads: If this product changes color. The practical way to judge that is to compare against a fresh bottle, or against how this bottle looked the day you opened it. A noticeably darker, lighter, separated or different-looking solution is a reason to stop using that bottle. Why is Quell milky brown? explains the starting color.

Storage: was the bottle kept in range?

Quell’s storage line reads: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). That range covers a normal home in almost any season. It doesn’t cover a glove box in summer, a car parked through a freezing night, a windowsill in direct afternoon sun or a bag left beside a heater. A bottle that spent time in one of those places should get a careful look before you use it. If it looks any different, replace it; if it looks the same but you’re uneasy, a pharmacist can help you decide.

The tip and the cap

Contamination doesn’t show. The label puts it simply: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination. If the tip touched your eye, your lashes, your finger, a countertop or the floor, the solution behind it may no longer be clean, even though nothing looks different. The same goes for a bottle that sat with its cap off for a while. In either case the cautious choice is a fresh bottle, especially since there’s no visible sign to wait for.

• Wash and dry your hands before you open the bottle.
• Hold the tip above the eye without letting it touch anything.
• Recap the bottle straight away, and don’t wipe or rinse the tip.
• Don’t share a bottle with anyone else.

What happens if you use expired eye drops?

The label can’t answer that, and neither can we. What federal rules do say is that a drug’s expiration date comes from stability testing showing the product still meets its standards up to that date when stored as the label says. Past it, nobody has shown that it does. If you’ve already used a few drops from an expired bottle, stop, switch to a fresh one and watch how your eyes feel. The label’s stop-use line applies here as anywhere: 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.

Do unopened eye drops expire?

Yes. The printed date applies to sealed bottles too, so a spare that’s been sitting in a drawer for a long time may have run past its date without ever being opened. Check your spares every few months, keep them in their cartons, and use the oldest first. Quell’s label doesn’t give a separate time limit once a bottle is opened; a pharmacist is the right person to ask about that.

A quick checklist before each new bottle

• Seal intact when you first open it.
• Date not passed, on both bottle and carton.
• Color matches the milky brown you expect.
• Stored within the label’s range since it arrived.
• Note the opening date somewhere you’ll see it.

When to ask a pharmacist instead of guessing

If you can’t tell whether a change in the solution is real, if a bottle was somewhere very hot or cold, or if you’ve used drops from a bottle you now doubt and your eyes feel different, ask a pharmacist. For questions about a particular Quell bottle, call Aurora Pharmaceuticals, LLC at 615.465.6041, M–F 9AM–5PM CST, with the lot number. A sealed bottle you won’t use can be refunded within 30 days of delivery; see our terms.