Cream (pharmacy)

A cream is a preparation usually for application to the skin. Creams for application to mucous membranes such as those of the rectum or vagina are also used. Creams may be considered pharmaceutical products, since even cosmetic creams are manufactured using techniques developed by pharmacy and unmedicated creams are highly used in a variety of skin conditions (dermatoses). The use of the finger tip unit concept may be helpful in guiding how much topical cream is required to cover different areas.

Creams are semi-solid

• The provision of a barrier to protect the skin
  • This may be a physical barrier or a chemical barrier as with sunscreens
• To aid in the retention of moisture (especially water-in-oil creams)
• Cleansing
• Emollient
  effects
• As a vehicle for drug substances such as
  counter-irritants
  .

Creams are semisolid dosage forms containing more than 20% water or volatile components and typically less than 50% hydrocarbons, waxes, or polyols as vehicles.

Composition

There are four main ingredients of the cold cream:^[2]

1. Water
2. Oil
3. Emulsifier
4. Thickening agent

Topical medication forms

There are many types of preparations applied to a body surface, such as:

• ointments – consist of a single-phase in which solids or liquids may be dispersed. There are hydrophobic, water-emulsifying, and hydrophilic ointments.^[3]
• creams – consist of a lipophilic phase and an aqueous phase. There are lipophilic (W/O) and hydrophilic (O/W) creams, depending on the continuous phase.
• gels – consist of liquids gelled by suitable
  gelling agents
  . There are lipophilic gels (oleogels) and Hydrophilic gels (hydrogels).
• pastes – contain large proportions of solids finely dispersed in the basis.
• poultices – consist of a hydrophilic heat-retentive basis in which solids or liquids are dispersed. They are usually spread thickly on a suitable dressing and heated before application to the skin.
• topical powders – consist of solid, loose, dry particles of varying degrees of fineness.
• medicated plasters – consist of an adhesive basis spread as a uniform layer on an appropriate support made of natural or synthetic material.

See also

• topical

References

External links

• Media related to Cream (cosmetics) at Wikimedia Commons