How Long To Keep an Open Vial

[m575]

hey guys. dont have a clue where this came from but i sat here and suddenly wondered. . . how long can a vial be kept for if you have only used half of the contents for example? i have never had to do this but randomly want to know now.

 

[DazMalaly]

was thinking about this myself the other day !?

 

[m575]

anyone?

 

[Krave]

Surely to hard to put a date on?
Personally I would say a few months, that is just what I would feel comfortable with.

 

[Hilly]

till the expiry date i imagine and a little further

 

[m575]

till the expiry date i imagine and a little further

this is what i first thought too but surely each time you use it you are allowing small amounts of air in that could lead to bacteria growing the longer its left? or am i making something out of nothing

 

[Hilly]

ure getting over paranoid IMO.

However a better question is unless ure using 50ml bottles why are u not just using the whole bottle u big girl

 

[m575]

lol like i say never had to do it myself. was just something that popped in to my head. with 20ml vials for example. i dunno, as i say, just random

 

[Krave]

To be honest in my mind it was down to letting air/contaminates getting onto the bottle.
Think I would still rather just buy another bottle than use old left overs...

 

[Mars]

The expiry dates on multi dose vials are for unopened vials.
The JCAHO recommend that opened multi dose vials should be used within 3 months, personally i would trust their judgment, especially as we are talking about a UGL product.

 

[m575]

thanks mars, had a feeling the expiry date was more to do with unopened. cheers

 

[Pea Head]

Me personally if i have a few ml left overs depending on how long its not been used for (4 weeks +) then i just bin them.

 

[Milky]

The expiry dates on multi dose vials are for unopened vials.
The JCAHO recommend that opened multi dose vials should be used within 3 months, personally i would trust their judgment, especially as we are talking about a UGL product.

Thank you for that. l have been known to use them 6 months down the line, obviously not anymore.

 

[Viktor]

The expiry dates on multi dose vials are for unopened vials.
The JCAHO recommend that opened multi dose vials should be used within 3 months, personally i would trust their judgment, especially as we are talking about a UGL product.

Yep spot on, however as you allude to this is a time scale for pharma products, so I would definitely bin opened multi vials before the 3 month expire time.