# What happened to this medicine in my cupboard?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-medicine-in-my-cupboard/776842>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 10, 2017, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-medicine-in-my-cupboard/776842 "2017-01-10T23:20:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mrdeals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Mrdeals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrdeals)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-medicine-in-my-cupboard/776842/1 "2017-01-10T23:20:29Z")

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Found an expired bottle of analgesic gel in my cupboard today. Around the lid there were hundreds of tiny, as best as I can describe, glass needles.

The seal on the jar was broken some time ago, I’d say it has been sitting untouched in my cupboard for probably 3 years.

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**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-medicine-in-my-cupboard/776842/2 "2017-01-10T23:25:20Z")

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Glass needles? Perhaps just crystallized gel that seeped from under the cap or was already residue when the cap was last closed.

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**Author:** ![tallcoldone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@tallcoldone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tallcoldone)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-medicine-in-my-cupboard/776842/3 "2017-01-11T17:00:59Z")

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Some of the ingredients likely evaporated, leaving behind others that were dissolved but now have formed solid crystals. Here’e an example:

[http://sciencemadness.wikia.com/wiki/Salicylic\_acid](http://sciencemadness.wikia.com/wiki/Salicylic_acid)

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**Author:** ![Mrdeals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Mrdeals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrdeals)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-medicine-in-my-cupboard/776842/4 "2017-01-11T23:38:52Z")

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> [@tallcoldone](#):
>
> Some of the ingredients likely evaporated, leaving behind others that were dissolved but now have formed solid crystals. Here’e an example:
> 
> [http://sciencemadness.wikia.com/wiki/Salicylic\_acid](http://sciencemadness.wikia.com/wiki/Salicylic_acid)

Looks almost exactly like that!