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drnase
19th October 2005, 10:27 PM
Hi Group,

Perry and I have been discussing iontophoresis delivery of topical drugs like BOTOX and other medications that must be injected or are hard to deliver topically.

Basically iontophoresis utilizes the opposite charge of the drug molecule to push it through the skin. Utilizing iontophoresiis you can change the depth of drug penetration very easily and consistently.

Iontophoresis not only has future application in BOTOX and neural inhibitors for rosacea but, penetration of deep flushing agents prior to laser surgery. The technology is here, it just needs more testing on the facial skin.


Eur J Pharm Biopharm. 2005 Jul;60(2):179-91. Related Articles, Links


Transdermal iontophoresis: combination strategies to improve transdermal iontophoretic drug delivery.

Wang Y, Thakur R, Fan Q, Michniak B.

Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA.

For several decades, there has been interest in using the skin as a port of entry into the body for the systemic delivery of therapeutic agents. However, the upper layer of the skin, the stratum corneum, poses a barrier to the entry of many therapeutic entities. Given a compound, passive delivery rate is often dependent on two major physicochemical properties: the partition coefficient and solubility. The use of chemical enhancers and modifications of the thermodynamic activity of the applied drug are two frequently employed strategies to improve transdermal permeation. Chemical enhancers are known to enhance drug permeation by several mechanisms which include disrupting the organized intercellular lipid structure of the stratum corneum , 'fluidizing' the stratum corneum lipids , altering cellular proteins, and in some cases, extracting intercellular lipids . However, the resulting increase in drug permeation using these techniques is rather modest especially for hydrophilic drugs. A number of other physical approaches such as iontophoresis, sonophoresis, ultrasound and the use of microneedles are now being studied to improve permeation of hydrophilic as well as lipophilic drugs. This article presents an overview of the use of iontophoresis alone and in conjunction with other approaches such as chemical enhancement, electroporation, sonophoresis, and use of microneedles and ion-exchange materials.

Bob Bear
20th October 2005, 02:23 AM
Iv be asked about this with regards to botox many, many times Geoff. It seems that alot of people are interested in this drug, but dont want to take the risk of it going wrong. I must admit, I used this drug and found it incredibly effective for SOME types of flushing - I mean, 110% clearence! I really think that this is something that should be looked into, as i reckon it would be huge.

What ever happened to that study in Sydney? Did they not prove that botox could be delivered transdermally, if I remember correctly?

drnase
20th October 2005, 02:59 AM
I have not had a chance to follow up. Its on the list. It will be interesting to find out.

Bob Bear
20th October 2005, 03:29 AM
VERY!

Trust me Geoff, there is a place for botox in rosacea. I can tell you this from first hand experience. If they can delivery in the right way, then this (I believe) could be as big as IPL. Infact, an IPL / botox protocol might be immensely effective, and I assume it would be swiped up pretty quickly by the current practicioners.

drnase
20th October 2005, 06:12 AM
VERY!

Trust me Geoff, there is a place for botox in rosacea. I can tell you this from first hand experience. If they can delivery in the right way, then this (I believe) could be as big as IPL. Infact, an IPL / botox protocol might be immensely effective, and I assume it would be swiped up pretty quickly by the current practicioners.


Bob,

You are right, BOTOX does have its place in rosacea treatment. More for the active bouts of flushing accompanied by sweating or perspiration which are primarily acetylcholine mediated.

Now this is one unique case -- a young lady and close friend of mine had rosacea papules and redness on her forehead for over a decade. She started getting BOTOX for forehead wrinkles and her papules completely cleared and her redness diminished. Going on 5 treatments over 3 years. Rather unique case, but interesting.

We need a much better technique than injections for rosacea. An iontophoretic pad could be applied to any area of the face, dispense a known amount of BOTOX superficially where the nerve endings are, ensuring better treatment and no interference with the muscular layer involved in facial expression.......unless you were going for that look. :D