Saline solution
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Sunday August 17th, 2008 @ 6:41 AM
Filed under: Uncategorized
To heal my piercings, have have bought a bottle (1000 ml) of saline solution. I pour it into a small bottle, and when I run out, I will re-fill the small bottle. I have strict “contamination controls” over the 1000 ml bottle (I don’t allow myself to even dip new q-tips in.)
However, the saline solution’s label says to “discard within 24 hours of opening.” Although 24 hours seems quite unreasonable, should I be worried about how long the bottle’s been opened for? Perhaps it’s best to buy a new bottle of saline solution after a month? What do you think?
You can often prolong bacteria contamination of the bottle by placing it in refridgeration, as that slows bacteria growth.
However know that as soon as you open up a sterile bottle of saline, you only have a certain amount of time before the contents become contaminated. If the company declares that the sterile solution needs to be discarded after 24 hours of opening, that is not an “unreasonable” situation. Because the fact is that bottles contents won’t be sterile after 24 hours.
Now provided that you keep it under strict lock and key and let nobody else touch it and you yourself handle it properly. Then realistically you can continue using the saline, but you need to realize that after 24 hours the solution will not be sterile.. However I would say having/using it for an entire month is not really an ideal thing to do.
Personally I’d suggest buying in smaller quantities and using only what you need. You can also purchase items like Sterile Saline Wound Wash that comes in containers that remain sterile and last longer then 24 hours.
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12 Responses to “Saline solution”
I work in the veterinary medical industry, and I can tell you there’s on-label use and off-label use. Many drugs/solutions have a recommended shelf life. For example, Propofol should be used within 24 hours, and LRS also within 24 hours and only for one person. We keep Propofol for 48 hours before chucking it, and LRS gets kept a week and used for multiple patients (new needle every time of course).
All of the label instructions are guidelines based on clinical trials. Also, the pharmaceutical company won’t be held responsible if their product is not used precisely like it “should” be. It doesn’t mean the product goes BAD after that time, just means you need to be careful with it’s use and there haven’t been enough studies yet.
I say go ahead and use that Saline solution for longer than that 24 hours. Don’t touch the tip of the bottle, pour directly into something else and put the cap on tight after use. Besides, once you remove the the saline solution from the bottle, unless you’re pouring into a sterilized container, it’s contaminated anyway
Xan on August 17th, 2008 at 5:00 pmYou can also get contact lens saline solutions which are designed for sensitive eyes and only contain tiny traces of preservatives. These can be reused safely for 30 days after opening.
I’m looking at a bottle of “Gelflex Normal Saline Solution for sensitive eyes”, it contains 0.9% salt and only 0.0001% Polyhexamethylene Biguanide as a preservative. (That’s a mere 1mg/L if my maths serves me…)
redeye on August 17th, 2008 at 11:51 pmunfortunately redeye I’d personally suggest against using Contact Lens solution or any solution that contains preservatives as even that 1mg/L can pose problems to certain individuals. But that’s just my personal belief…Like you said its such small doses in the ingredients it probably won’t negatively impact some people, but it could pose problems to others.
Warren Hiller on August 18th, 2008 at 12:13 amXan: I bet you don’t pay attention to: “Dont eat/drink after: (insert date here)” labels too right?
j/k
Warren Hiller on August 18th, 2008 at 12:26 amI just mix my own everytime, although mostly i just rock the LITHA method, and let the warm shower water clean off any crusties, never directly, always diverted with my hand. Saline feels better warm, so mix a new batch everytime.
Lucas Reichennek on August 18th, 2008 at 12:32 amThanks a lot. I’ve been using my bottle of saline for erm 6 months already…
recently i’ve switched to hot sea salt soaks for 10 minutes, 3 times a day. it works so much better; so much less soreness and so much less crusties. Actually, i haven’t been seeing crusties ever since i’ve started the SSS.
Clara on August 18th, 2008 at 1:07 amWarren, you’re right, I DO use things after their “best before” date. Because hey, it’s BEST before then, not inedible. It’s not like bacteria wait for that day to build their little colonies
Clara, if you have a bottle of saline for 6 months, time to chuck it out. I won’t drink a bottle of water that’s been open for a week, starts to smell a bit funky. 6 months for a bottle of sterile saline solution is far too long.
Xan on August 18th, 2008 at 6:14 pmyep. definitely. i’m going down to the pharmacy today to buy the little tiny bottles of saline…
Clara on August 18th, 2008 at 9:05 pmXan: So how much clumpy milk do you drink? Cuz every time I wiff my expired milk, I dry-heave in disgust and toss it. lol and quite often it expires on the day if not a day before hand for me…maybe I’m just different lol
Warren Hiller on August 19th, 2008 at 1:38 amWell Warren, you have to be smart about it. I don’t drink milk actually, but I do sniff test anything that might be less than fresh. And even though I’ll eat expired food because it’s just fine, if you try to cut the mould off a piece of cheese and give me the rest, ew, just ew.
Expiry dates are guidelines really. I don’t know where you are, but in Canada, expiry dates generally say “best before”, not “do not eat after date”. Guaranteed freshness before, not guaranteed after (but probably still ok for a bit).
(btw, we are SO off topic here
)
Xan on August 19th, 2008 at 7:35 amXan: Better to be a smartass then a dumbass
not really off topic but yeah somewhat hahaha
I personally don’t trust ANY expiry date anymore after many times buying items and the expiry date was much later and the item went bad.
That was in Canada too *nods* course I WAS purchasing my food from No Frills lmao
Warren Hiller on August 19th, 2008 at 8:32 pmThere is some (albeit very limited) clinical testing suggesting that saline wash/soak environments actually lend an ideal environment for bioburden growth.
I would try using a dry heat compress personally with a heating pad an some form of barrier to keep the surface clean. That seems a little safer to me than using saline that is “outdated.”
Keep in mind Bactine (which is not intended for healing piercings) has a shelf life of about a week; after a week of air exposure it grows pseudomonas aeruginosa within the container. Just as Warren has said regarding the saline… the longer the air exposure, the more likelihood of contamination even if you haven’t directly been the cause.
Brett Perkins on September 3rd, 2008 at 5:58 pmLeave a Comment