gelling agents

The topical drug delivery facilitates a direct entry into the skin as a vital organ for diagnosis and cure without any threat of passing through first pass metabolism. Emulgels are nothing but, the combination of emulsion and gel. Emulgel is one of the novel strategy widely employed in acne, fungal infection, arthritis, inflammation, psoriasis and other topical infections. Emulgel for dermatological use has several constructive properties such as being thixotropic, emollient, easily spreadable, easily washable, greaseless, non-staining, water-soluble, greater shelf life, bio-friendly, clear and pleasant appearance. Emulgel is emulsion, either of water in oil or oil in water type, which are gelled by mixing with gelling agent such as HPMC, carbopol etc. However, gels carry a drawback in delivery of hydrophobic drug moiety and thus emulgel can prove a novel topical drug delivery for hydrophobic drugs by incorporating hydrophobic drug into gels using o/w emulsions. Emulgel helps in the incorporation of hydrophobic drugs into the oil phase and then dispersion of oil globules in aqueous phase as a continuous phase, resulting in o/w emulsion and this emulsion can be incorporate into gel base.