This NHS content is written for people in England. Medicine names, availability, prescribing and services may differ in other countries.
Simeticone (or simethicone) is a type of medicine called an antiflatulent. It's used to treat farting (flatulence), trapped wind and bloating, although we cannot be certain if it really works for these symptoms.
People with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) sometimes take simeticone to ease their symptoms.
It may also help with colic in babies, although there's not much scientific evidence that simeticone really works for this.
Simeticone is a mixture of silica gel and dimeticone (or dimethicone), a type of silicone, and is also known as activated dimeticone. It works by bringing together the small gas bubbles in your gut to form bigger bubbles, allowing trapped air to pass through your body more easily.
You can buy it in pharmacies without a prescription, and in some shops.
It comes as tablets, capsules, drops and a liquid that you swallow.
Simeticone often comes combined with other ingredients such as medicines to treat indigestion (antacids) or diarrhoea. When it's combined with other ingredients, brand names include Maalox Plus and Imodium Plus.
View the original NHS website page ↗. Refreshed 19 August 2026.
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