Pharmaceutical Creams and their use in wound healing: A Review

摘要

Creams have been used as topical preparations since time immemorial due to their ease of application to the skin and also their removal. Pharmaceutical creams have a variety of applications ranging from cosmetic purposes such as cleansing, beautifying, altering appearance, moisturizing etc. to skin protection against bacterial, fungal infections as well as healing cuts, burns, wounds on the skin. The human skin is easily vulnerable to injury but it has the capability to heal on its own. However, the natural healing process can take time and there is also risk of infection especially in the early stages of injury. In such cases, creams can be applied to the site of injury to speed up the healing process as well as protect the wound from infection. In this review of literature, we have focused on the use of pharmaceutical creams for wound healing with detailed discussion relating to the wound healing process, suitable methods of preparation of creams; their classification based on their function, characteristics and emulsion type and the various types of creams, ingredients used in the formulation of creams and their various evaluation parameters.