What You Need to Know About Expired Viagra (& Its Shelf Life)
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As with any medication that you take for long-term use, it is essential to understand what the shelf life is, how proper storage impacts potency, and what the expiration date is.
The expiration date is commonly found on the bottle, packet, or box, and tells you how long you have to consume the product safely. In taking a product like expired Viagra, there is always the potential to experience dangerous side effects or less effectiveness of the drug.
If you are planning on taking Viagra regularly, please take the time to note when the expiration date is.
How Long Does Viagra Stay Viable For?
The Viagra brand uses the drug sildenafil as its active ingredient. Sildenafil has a shelf life of 24 months (1).
You will find on the package of your Viagra pills, typically the bottle, a recommended expiration date. This date will be approximately 2-years after the manufacturing date of your product.
This means that as long as you store your Viagra properly, you can safely consume it for up to 2 years.
However, like any other drug, certain environmental conditions and circumstances may cause Viagra to expire faster. If your package has a leak in it, has had its seal broken, or has been tampered with in any way, this may have exposed your medication to chemicals, oxygen, or varying degrees of temperature.
This is why the expiration date is only for best-case scenarios with proper storage.
How Should Viagra Be Stored to Avoid Early Expiration?
To ensure that your Viagra stays at its peak strength, it is best to use it within the allotted time frame before its expiration date.
It is also essential to make sure that it is stored properly. If you store your Viagra where there is a lot of moisture, heat, or freezing temperatures, you may hasten the molecule breakdown of the active ingredient and cause your Viagra to expire faster.
The proper way to store your Viagra is at room temperature and away from excess heat, moisture, and direct sunlight (2). Whether you are ordering your Viagra in bulk or not, it is best to keep your supplies in a room that does not get a lot of temperature fluctuations. For instance, you don’t want to keep it stored in your bathroom (3), as the heat from the shower may degrade the product.
What Is the Best Temperature to Store Viagra At?
Regardless of what mode you are taking your Viagra in, it should be protected from heat, light, humidity, dust, and of course, children (4).
For powder, or oral suspension, you want to store your sildenafil below 30°C or 86°F or if you are taking reconstituted sildenafil, do not freeze and place it in a refrigerator at 2-8°C or 35.6 – 46.4 °F (5).
If you are taking sildenafil citrate tablets, like what Viagra is, then these should be stored at 25°C or 77°F (6). If you are injecting sildenafil citrate, this should be stored at 20-25°C or 68-77 °F (7).
Are There Any Risks to Taking Expired Viagra?
While there are no directly listed adverse side effects of taking expired Viagra other than the side effects listed on the side of the bottle (8), taking any expired medication can be risky.
This is because the chemical compounds within your product can change composition during the breakdown, leaving them ineffective or less potent (9). There is no guarantee that your product is going to work as stated if it is past its expiration date.
