How to Identify a Precription Pill by Seeing a Picture of it

Oftentimes, the brochures and medical bottles of prescription pills are lost or trashed, leaving you with unidentifiable medication. Since prescription pills are issued by medical professionals for a variety of reasons, it is important to ensure you and others take the proper medication. If the wrong prescriptions pills are taken, it could lead to serious health conditions and even death. While you may not know what the prescription is, do not throw it away. There are ways you can identify prescription pills as well as find the conditions they are taken for.

Instructions

Identifying Prescription Pills

• 1

  Analyze the shape of the pill. Oftentimes, the shape of the pill is based on the shape of the organ that it helps. For example, if it is shaped like a heart, it could be a beta blocker, which helps prevent heart attack.

• 2

  Read the imprint. Imprints on prescription pills often are portions of manufacturer's logos, batch number, and manufacturing date. If you can identify the logo on the pill, you may be able to remember what prescription pill it is. Often these imprints can be shorter versions of the prescription name.

• 3

  Use prescription identification tools on the Internet. RxList has a pill identification tool that can be used online at the following website: http://www.rxlist.com/pill-identification-tool/article.htm. When looking at the prescription pill, input any imprint, the color, and the shape of the pill in the forum where it is asked. After doing so, this tool can tell you what prescription pill it is. Drugs.com also has a pill identification wizard that contains over 3,000 photos of prescription drugs. You can narrow down picture images by the imprint, shape, and color of the pill until you find the prescription pill you have.

• 4

  Call your pharmacist. If you do not have access to the Internet to use the prescription identification tools, you can call your local pharmacist. By giving him or her information about the pill, such as color, shape, and imprint, he or she may be able to tell you over the phone what type of prescription it is, as well as what conditions the pill is used to treat.