# For external use only - what does this mean, precisely?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 23, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348 "2012-08-23T03:56:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/1 "2012-08-23T03:56:11Z")
I was listening to Dan Savage’s podcast - a caller was asking about sex toys that have “for external use only” stamped on them, even though they are clearly meant to be inserted into an orifice. Dan had a guest on that said the label was probably a lazy way for sex toy companies to cover their asses in case you inserted it into your butt and then it exploded or something.
I had always assumed that “external use” simply meant “don’t try to eat this.” I found this on the FDA website: ““For external use only” [in bold type] for topical drug products not intended for ingestion” - but that seems to apply only to drugs.
I am curious. Can anyone help me find a cite for this?
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### Author:  [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/2 "2012-08-23T04:06:42Z")
I would assume “External Use” also means “Don’t get it in your eyes”.
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### Author:  [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/3 "2012-08-23T04:28:16Z")
Well, it’d be pretty impressive if you could get a dildo in your eye.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/4 "2012-08-23T04:54:28Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#):
>
> … the label was probably a lazy way for sex toy companies to cover their asses …
I saw what you did there.
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### Author:  [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/5 "2012-08-23T05:56:23Z")
I know nothing about sexual toys…
But as for medicine, “External Use Only” Means it needs to be on the outer skin… No eyes, ears, nose, mouth, broken skin, or genitals.
As for the OP, I think the sexual toy message was more a CYA then anything else.
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### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/6 "2012-08-23T06:37:46Z")
Was it stamped on one of those toys that pretend to be “personal massagers” and have pictures of people using them on their neck and shoulders? The warning might be another way for them to insist on their innocence.
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### Author:  [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/7 "2012-08-23T08:06:39Z")
> [@dracoi](#):
>
> Was it stamped on one of those toys that pretend to be “personal massagers” and have pictures of people using them on their neck and shoulders? The warning might be another way for them to insist on their innocence.
No, these were stamped on straight up sex toys.
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### Author:  [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/8 "2012-08-23T08:12:14Z")
Mucous membranes are more sensitive to chemical exposure. Plastic and rubber thingumajigs of every kind all contain plastizisers or other chemicals that will (or at least can) contaminate what they touch. So either there exists laws regulating the acceptable levels of such contaminants for instruments used on the skin vs. mucous membranes, or it’s a CYA in case someone sues them because they believe their toy gave them asscancer.
ETA: I believe there’s a lot of talk about soft rubber toys not being recommended due to the very high ftalate content. Unlike toys for children, toys for adults appear not to be regulated. Whether the exposure actually is harmful is a different question, but it points to the CYA being the reason and offers a motivation for the producers to be concerned.
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### Author:  [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/9 "2012-08-23T08:58:31Z")
It’s not the opposite of “indoor use only”?
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/10 "2012-08-23T09:22:34Z")
Was the sex toy a vibrator? Something like [this](http://www.adameve.com/sp-fingo-nubby-finger-vibrator-13900.aspx) (mostly SFW) is supposedly for stimulating the clitoris and nipples. It might not be designed to be inserted inside a vagina or anus.
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### Author:  [@Tess\_Trueheart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess_Trueheart)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/11 "2012-08-23T20:06:56Z")
I heard this podcast, too. Lots of the toys explicitly mention prostate stimulation or G-spot stimulation or whatever on the front of the package. They’re clearly meant for insertion. They may also say phthalate-free on the front of the package, but on the back in small print they say “for external use only.” So if it’s not about the materials used to make the toy, and the toy’s packaging says on the front that you’ll be inserting it… what’s up?
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/12 "2012-08-23T20:20:25Z")
Probably just legal boiler plate then.
I was at work and we had a bottle that had a label full of various warnings in fine print and one was “avoid skin contact”.
The content of the bottle was fingerprinting ink.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/13 "2012-08-23T21:00:01Z")
Technically, the lumen of the vagina or anus are still “external”. The boundary between internal and external is the skin, so if you haven’t drawn blood, you’re still “external”. That’s from a topological perspective, in which the human body is essentially identical to a donut. Legal, ethical, and other perspectives may differ.
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/14 "2012-08-23T21:46:46Z")
Do not eat.
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/15 "2012-08-23T23:17:01Z")
> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> That’s from a topological perspective, in which the human body is essentially identical to a donut.
I’m not sure about that. The connection between your nostrils and various ducts nearby make a few more topological holes (I think) :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/16 "2012-08-23T23:31:31Z")
This was discussed in a thread [back in May](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651003).
[/topology hijack]
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-external-use-only-what-does-this-mean-precisely/632348/17 "2012-08-23T23:33:04Z")
it means you should tie a string on it in case it gets away (more correctly ‘into’) you.