Bag expiry dates?

[Muppetgirl]

This is slightly left field because I use catheter bags and I appreciate the various stoma bags are made from different materials, but I thought this would be a good place to ask...

I was recently going through my supplies and I noticed that one type of bag that I use infrequently (surgery, emergencies etc) has a 2015 expiry. Does this really matter? I guess they might degrade over a long time but I'm reluctant to throw them away, seems kind of wasteful. Is it to do with the chemicals they are treated with? Odour etc? Any thoughts?

 

[DJW]

Are the in sterile packaging?

 

[Muppetgirl]

Ahh no those ones are not, they are in plastic wrap but not sterile. They attach to the cath rather than skin. But saying that I looked at my caths which are sterile and my all in ones (bag and cath) and they all have expiry dates as well.

 

[DJW]

Hummm.
I don't like tossing things either.
I'd put a call into the supplier to see what they say.

 

[2thFairy]

I don't think it would matter much unless it is something like 10 years old and possibly the plastic would get crunchy and form cracks in it. The sticky part might lose it's stick power after a few years beyond the expiry date, though.

 

[Muppetgirl]

Thanks. I'm going to hang onto them. It won't take too long to get through them. It seems a bit overzealous to chuck.