--- title: Does Sunscreen Expire? How to Tell When SPF Is Ineffective description: There’s a lot of debate around whether sunscreen can really expire. Here’s what the experts think, and what you can do if you need new SPF. canonical: https://time.com/5279096/does-sunscreen-expire/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-22T14:40:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:17:22.045Z article:section: Health og:title: Does Sunscreen Ever Expire? og:description: We asked an expert og:url: https://time.com/5279096/does-sunscreen-expire/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c1ab2f86adfc80f/69893082bc6cfc86983e5f2d/sunscreen-expiration.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3800 og:image:height: 2138 og:image:alt: Shelves of sunscreen for sale at Publix in Naples, Florida. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Does Sunscreen Ever Expire? twitter:description: We asked an expert twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c1ab2f86adfc80f/69893082bc6cfc86983e5f2d/sunscreen-expiration.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Does Sunscreen Ever Expire? > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=6b2cb167-0e17-4b44-91c5-4a4fbd40cb01&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1)  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 22, 2018 2:40 PM UTC  Shelves of sunscreen for sale at Publix in Naples, Florida. Shelves of sunscreen for sale at Publix in Naples, Florida. Jeff Greenberg—UIG via Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 22, 2018 2:40 PM UTC You likely have a [half-used bottle of sunscreen](http://time.com/money/4435838/sunscreen-stuck-in-bottle/) in the back of your medicine cabinet, and another one in the depths of a beach bag. If that’s the case, you might be wondering: Does sunscreen expire? The answer is yes, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — but your bottle may last longer than you think. [The FDA requires](https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/UnderstandingOver-the-CounterMedicines/ucm239463.htm#dates) all sunscreens to be marked with an expiration date, unless the product has been proven to last at least three years. So unless your sunscreen bottle is stamped with a specific expiration date, you can assume it’s good for three years past its purchase date, the FDA says. However, you should still use common sense to determine whether your sunscreen is expired, says Dr. Joshua Zeichner, a dermatologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. “If a product does not look, smell or feel the way it did when you originally purchased it, you should discard it,” Zeichner says. Changes in consistency could signify that the product’s [ingredients are no longer active](http://time.com/4340120/sunscreen-spf-uv/), which “means that you have a false sense of protection against the sun and are more likely to develop a sunburn.” Even unopened sunscreens can lose efficacy over time, Zeichner says, so it’s best to be cautious. “I generally recommend a new sunscreen every season,” he says. “You may not know how long a sunscreen sat on the shelf at the store before you purchased it, so it may be impossible to determine when that three-year mark is up.” Another way to cut down on leftover sunscreen? [Use more of it](http://time.com/5273230/sunscreen-vitamin-d-deficiency/). “If you are using sunscreen properly, you are using about one ounce to cover the full body \[each time\], and you are reapplying sunscreen every two hours,” he says. “If you have the same bottle on Labor Day that you bought for Memorial Day, then you are likely not using enough.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5279096/does-sunscreen-expire/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5279096/does-sunscreen-expire/"},"headline":"Does Sunscreen Ever Expire?","datePublished":"2018-05-22T14:40:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:17:22.045Z","description":"We asked an expert","url":"https://time.com/5279096/does-sunscreen-expire/","keywords":["Public Health","onetime","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c1ab2f86adfc80f/69893082bc6cfc86983e5f2d/sunscreen-expiration.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c1ab2f86adfc80f/69893082bc6cfc86983e5f2d/sunscreen-expiration.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Shelves of sunscreen for sale at Publix in Naples, Florida.","caption":"Shelves of sunscreen for sale at Publix in Naples, Florida.","creditText":"Jeff Greenberg—UIG via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5279096/does-sunscreen-expire/","name":"Does Sunscreen Ever Expire?"}}]}] ```