Can I use eye drops while fasting?
Yes, according to most scholars, eye drops do not break your fast. The eye is not a passage to the stomach, and a drop is a tiny amount. Some scholars disagree if you taste the drops in your throat, so if it's easy, use them at suhoor and iftar.
Why most scholars allow eye drops
The things that break a fast are eating, drinking and what is treated like them: something that reaches the stomach through a normal opening such as the mouth. The eye is not a normal route for food or drink. Even if a trace of the drop drains into the nose and throat through the tear duct, it is a minute amount, smaller than the water left in your mouth after rinsing during wudu.
That is the view of the Shafi'i and Hanafi schools and of most contemporary scholars, including the International Islamic Fiqh Academy. Many scholars also mention reports that some of the early Muslims used kohl (eyeliner) while fasting.
The other view
The Maliki and Hanbali schools traditionally say that if you clearly taste the drops or kohl in your throat, the fast is broken and should be made up. If you follow a teacher or community from these schools, it's fine to take the more careful approach.
In practice, this difference rarely matters. If you can use your drops before dawn and after sunset, you avoid the question entirely.
Contact lenses, ear drops and eye ointments
- Contact lens solution and lubricating drops: same ruling as eye drops, so they're fine for most scholars.
- Eye ointment: also doesn't break the fast for most scholars.
- Ear drops: don't break the fast if your eardrum is intact. With a perforated eardrum, many scholars treat them more like nasal drops, so ask your doctor and a local scholar.
- Eyeliner and makeup: don't break the fast.
Things on the outside of the body follow a similar rule. See Can I wear deodorant while fasting?
If you taste it in your throat
Sometimes eye drops leave a bitter taste in the back of your mouth. Don't worry: for most scholars the fast is still valid. Just spit out the taste if you can, rather than swallowing it on purpose. Your normal saliva is fine. See Does swallowing my spit break my fast?
And if you have an eye infection or condition that needs drops during the day, use them. Your health matters, and your doctor's advice comes first.
- Eye drops do not break the fast for most scholars (Hanafi, Shafi'i and most scholars today).
- Some Maliki and Hanbali scholars say tasting them in the throat breaks it.
- Contact lens drops, eye ointment and makeup are fine.
- If it's easy, use your drops at suhoor and iftar to be on the safe side.
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