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How effective is spermicide once it expires?

By rosiebunsbbw | 21 posts, last post
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gmoyer

I've been looking for the answer to "How effective is spermicide once it expires?".

I have a 2 year expired, unopened Options Gynol 2 vaginal contraceptive jelly and called the manufacturer, who told me the only data they had was that they could not guarantee the effectiveness of the product past the expiration date.

I looked at the active ingredient Nonoxynol-9 and could not find information regarding its effectiveness over time.

Looking at the sites at the bottom of this post, many expired drugs are still good far past their expiration date. Factors like storage and open containers may affect deterioration. I would assume that expired contraceptive foam/jelly/film is still effective or somewhat effective past expiration.

I plan to use it along with the pill.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1103a.shtml

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Guest

what about a few months after the expire date? I have some that I haven't used and I don't know if it needs to be thrown out yet or if i can use it for a little while.
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Guest

It's not like the minute it passed it's expiration it just becomes useless. Most drugs except antibiotics just start to lose their potency. They are only guaranteed to keep their potency until the expiration date. It's possible it's 90% effective instead of 94%... They simply break down. How quickly probably depends on the form it's stored in, temperature stored, air exposure, etc.
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Guest

So, what happened? Did you have the baby?
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Guest

Lol right, i wanna know
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Guest

Please I hope you didn't abort it will mess with your head forever. You dont need a man with a baby things will work out. People make mistakes but that makes us stronger. Life is a cycle of ups & downs but things happen for a reason.
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Guest

This is true. Many expired medications are sent overseas to be used in countries where they cannot afford to purchase those medications. Depending on the chemical nature of the medication (its reactivity to moisture in the air, self-reactivity, etc) it may in fact maintain high potency for YEARS after the expiration date (steroid creams are notorious for this. The issue at hand is, "Is it worth the risk?" and the answer is NO.
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