Is the fast of one who used nose and ear drops in Ramadan and felt their effect in the throat valid?
The majority of jurists agree that distilling medication into the ear and nose during daylight hours in Ramadan breaks the fast. Anything that reaches the stomach through any opening invalidates the fast. The fasting person must therefore postpone the use of ear drops until night.
As for the taste of nose drops used at night being present during the day, it does not break the fast because the mere taste is not considered a fast-breaker by many jurists. Some scholars believe that ear and eye drops do not break the fast even if they reach the stomach, because there is no text indicating that they break the fast, and because they do not enter through the usual channels of eating and drinking.
Ibn Uthaymeen held the view that nose drops break the fast if they reach the stomach, but eye drops and ear drops do not break the fast of the fasting person. Ibn Baz believed that eye and ear drops do not break the fast, but nose drops are not permissible.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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