Ruling on nose drops for one who is fasting

It is proven that the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Snuff water up into the nose deeply, unless you are fasting.” Narrated by
al-Tirmidhi (788) and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Irwa’al-Ghaleel
(935). 

This hadeeth indicates that
it is not permissible for the fasting person to let water reach his throat
via the nose. 

Based on that, if the nose
drops are small in amount such that they will not reach the throat, then
there is nothing wrong with that, but if they do reach the throat and can be
tasted, then the fast is invalidated and has to be made up. 

Shaykh Ibn Baaz said:  The
same applies to eye drops and ear drops. They do not break the fast
according to the more correct of the two scholarly opinions, but if he finds
the taste of the drops in his throat, he should make up the fast in order to
be on the safe side, but it is not obligatory, because these are not
openings through which food and drink enter the body. But nose drops are not
permissible, because the nose is an opening through which food and drink may
enter the body. Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: “Snuff water up into the nose deeply, unless you are
fasting.” The one who does that has to make up the fast because of this
hadeeth and similar reports, if he finds the taste of that in his throat.
End quote. 

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said
in Fataawa Ramadaan (p. 511): If nose drops reach the stomach or the
throat, then they break the fast, because the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, according to the hadeeth of Laqeet
ibn Sabrah: “Snuff water up into the nose deeply, unless you are fasting.”
So it is not permissible for the fasting person to put drops in his nose
that can reach his stomach or his throat, but as for nose drops that will
not reach them, they do not break the fast. 

With regard to eye drops –
and also using kohl – and ear drops, they do not break the fast of the
fasting person. End quote. 

Based on this, the fasting
person should not use nose drops unless it is too difficult for him to go
without them, in which case he should use them but he should be careful not
to let any of that reach his throat. If he swallows any of that he should
make up that day. 

If he knows that he cannot
help swallowing some of them, then it is not permissible for him to use them
unless his sickness is so bad that it is permissible for him not to fast,
which is if fasting will cause him harm or unbearable hardship. See also
questions no. 50555 and
38532. 

And Allaah knows best.