expiry dates on bags, wafers

[autodraw]

Hello All,
All ostomy bags and wafers come with an expiry date past which the store cannot sell. I've used products up to two years past their expiry date with no ill effect. I believe current expiry dates are extremely wasteful and out of touch with reality. I'm curious how manufacturers came up with these, and what your experiences have been with expired/older products.

Thanks and hello 'Gators!

[Jimbob]

I also have used out of date products with no problems. I did forget about a packet I made up to keep in my car and forgot about them until I traded the car, the products had been in the car for several years through the cold of winter and the heat of Florida summers. They did not fare well. So unless the products have been abused like I did mine they should be OK to use.

[Bob Webtech]

I think it can be dangerous to make any blanket claim that ostomy products are good past their expiry dates. In some cases, there may be significant performance degradation as products approach their expiry date.

As an interesting observation, some of the products with newer skin barrier formulations are getting marked with shorter shelf lives than earlier products. For example, Coloplast's Sensura Mio material, used in all their latest pouching systems, has only a 2-year shelf life (the expiry date is only 2 years after the manufacture date). And it seems that Hollister's newer CeraPlus barrier material is marked as having only a 3-year shelf life, although previous Hollister materials were marked as having 5-year shelf life.

Note that if a product is considered to have a 2-year shelf life and you use it 2 years after its expiry date, the product would be twice as old as its intended shelf life.

[Mara]

I use Stomahesive flanges and pouches - I don't see any expiry date on them.....same for Eakin seals. The only product I use with an expiry date is the Stomahesive Powder.

[To Dream a Dream]

I think the expiration dates are encoded within the lot numbers for ConvaTec, if I'm not mistaken.

[Mara]

I think the expiration dates are encoded within the lot numbers for ConvaTec, if I'm not mistaken.

That's interesting! I once knew how to read that number but I have forgotten. However, I thought it was the date of manufacture....but I probably forgot that also....

[Bob Webtech]

How to identify expiration dates. This image shows examples from Hollister and Coloplast. Then I'll discuss ConvaTec.



For Hollister, the first 2 characters of the lot number show year and month of manufacture. In this example (9J062), "9" is the last digit of the year of manufacture, which was 2019 (could also be 2009 or 1999 but we assume the products aren't that old). "J" is the 10th letter of the alphabet, meaning it was manufactured in October of 2019. The expiration date in year-month format is shown next to the hourglass symbol, so this product expires in October 2024. In this case, the product has 5-year shelf life.

For Coloplast, the manufacture date and expiration date are both shown explicitly in international year-month-day format. In this example, the product was manufactured on April 18, 2019 and will expire on April 17, 2021. This indicates a 2-year shelf life.

Many ConvaTec products show only a lot number, which encodes the manufacture date in the same manner as Hollister lot numbers. The working assumption is then to assume 5-year shelf life, so the expiration date is 5 years after the manufacture date.

[To Dream a Dream]

Thanks, Bob. I just 'bookmarked' your post. First time for me to do so. Learn something new . . .

[Mara]

Thanks, Bob. After reading this thread I found the paper where I had noted down how to read the Convatec manufacture date....thanks for helping me to refresh my memory.

As far as expiry dates, sometimes there might be a problem well before the date. I had the problem with several of my Convatec faceplates melting considerably around the circumference. This was when I was out of the country earlier this year. I had my ostomy supplies in my carry-on bag, of course. Also it was quite cold where I was at the time - Hokkaido in Japan. Anyway, I sent photos and contacted Convatec and they sent replacements. Really don't know why that happened.

[Diane C]

Thanks for the info. Very useful. I do tend to use expired products if they're still around my home. Mostly, I'm referring to pouches or barriers. I've found that pastes and other accessories harden over time -- probably unwise to use. Pink HyTape is not useful after a while and becomes gummy and I've found other products to order instead -- thanks to many folks up here. Seals seem to hold their integrity quite well.

But I'm going through Convatec high-output pouches too rapidly. I'm going to have to switch to a different product. After a few days, these pouches become very unsuitable and leakage could become an issue (due to gas). I'll probaably return to Hollister... These are not expired but don't seem to be made very well -- at least not for my purposes.