Unidentified pills can be difficult to manage because there is no easy system to identify pills purely based on description (i.e., no specific shape or color for antibiotics or pain relief medications, etc). In most cases, however, a pill can be identified from a description of the pill, particularly if the pill has a legible imprint or other markings. In these cases, the pill can be identified using searchable databases of pills that can be found online.
Step 1
Write down the pill's shape, color and any imprints or notations on either side of the pill. This information will be critical in identifying the pill.
Step 2
Enter the information into a pill database. Drugs.com and Rxlist.com both have databases that you can search based on shape, color and imprints to determine the identity of your pill. Start with the color, shape and the imprint from one side.
Step 3
Check the results from the pill identifier against your description. The Drugs.com database provides you with images of every pill in their database that matches your search criteria, so you can check those images against your description. If you have too many results, enter in the imprint from the other side of the pill to narrow your results.
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