Abstract

COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON EMULGEL: A RECENT APPROACH FOR TOPICAL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

S. Nikitha*, Sakeena Fatima and Hyma P.

Abstract

Topical gels are very advantageous both in pharmaceutical preparations and cosmetics preparations. A gel is a colloid which consists of more than 95% of water. They are very friendly to use. But gels have a few limitations, such as, they cannot be used for hydrophobic drug delivery system. Hence, to overcome these limitations, emulgel has come into existence. Emulgel is a dual release drug delivery system, which are typically made of a normal emulsion which is later incorporated with gelling agents. These gelling agents convert water phase of an emulsion into an emulgel. Emulgel for dermatological use have several favorable properties such as being thixotropic, greaseless, easily spreadable, easily removable, emollient, non staining, water-soluble, longer shelf life, bio-friendly, transparent. Studies on emulgel have proven to be a trump card in the novel approach to topical drug delivery system.

Keywords: Emulgel, emulsifier, gelling agent, dual release, topical delivery, hydrophobic.