Ointment semisolid preparations

G. Creams or ointments Semisolid preparations intended for topical application. Excipients include petrolatum, isopropyl... 

Ointments Semisolid preparations intended for application to the skin with or without inunction. 

Topicals— These are semisolid preparations such as creams, ointments, or gels intended to be applied to the skin or certain mucous membranes... 

Ointments are semisolid preparations that are intended for external use. Ointments may contain either finely powdered drugs or their mixtures, liquids, and other drug forms incorporated into appropriate bases. They are applied to the skin for their physical effects as emollients (which make the skin more pliable), protectants, lubricants, and drying agents. Ointment bases are also used as vehicles in which to incorporate topical medications which exert specific effect. There are four types of ointment bases, namely, oleaginous, absorption, water removable, and water soluble bases. 

Pastes are also semisolid preparations intended for external application to the skin, and differ from ointments and creams in that they contain a high solid content. Pastes are made stiff by the addition of powders such as starch, zinc oxide, calcium carbonate or their mixtures. 

Amongst the various types of semisolid preparations, ointments represent the type of extemporaneous preparations most likely to be prepared by a pharmacist. A variety of ingredients may be included in the formula of semisolid dosage forms. 

When semisolid preparations of certain strength are diluted with ointment bases (also referred to as diluents), the strength of the mixture will be lowered. The percentage strength decreases as the quantity increases. To calculate the percent by weight strength of a semisolid mixture, an equation may be used as follows ... 

Ointments are semisolid preparations to be applied externally to the skin or mucous membranes they soften or melt at room temperature. Pastes are thick, stiff ointments... 

Ointments are semisolid preparations intended for topical application. They are used to provide protective and emollient effects on the skin or carry medicaments for treating certain topical ailments. They are also used to deliver drugs into eye, nose, vagina, and rectum. Ointments intended for ophthalmic purposes are required to be sterile. When applied to the eyes, they reside in the conjunctival sac for prolonged periods compared to solutions and suspensions and improve the fraction of drug absorbed across ocular tissues. Ophthalmic ointments are preferred for nighttime applications as they spread over the entire corneal and conjunctival surface and cause blurred vision. 

Microbial Screening Semisolid preparations are required to be free from any microbial contamination. Hence, most of the topical ointments are screened for the... 

Ointments Ointments generally consist of a dissolved or dispersed drug in an appropriate vehicle base. They are the most commonly used semisolid preparations as they are well tolerated and fairly safe and increase the ocular bioavailability of the drug. The instilled ointment breaks up into small oily droplets that remain in the cul-de-sac as a drug depot. The drug eventually gets to the ointment-tear interface due to the shearing action of the eyelids [178]. 

Waxes have been used by the pharmaceutical industry for many years. Their applications in semisolid preparations, including ointments, creams, or lotions, and in suppositories are well known and numerous publications exist on this topic. Because of their lipophilic properties, waxes have been used in sustained-release single or multiple unit solid dosage forms. This article reviews the different uses of waxes as sustained-release carrier or coating materials. 

Ointments and creams Ointments are applied to the skin for topical treatment or to be absorbed into the blood system for delivery to target areas. They are semisolid preparations obtained by mixing the API with selected ointment bases depending on intended use. These bases include petrolatum, paraffin, mineral oil, lanolin and glycols. Preservatives are often added to ensure the ointments will maintain the recommended shelf life. 

Semisolid Dosage Forms [SUPAC-SS] — Semisolid dosage forms include nonsterile and semisolid preparations, for example, creams, gels, and ointments, intended for all topical routes of administration. 

This chapter deals with formulatirai and preparation of ear drops for application to the external auditory canal as well as those intended for the middle ear. Creams and ointments for the ear are similar to semisolid preparations for cutaneous use. 

For rectal application ointments and creams are common, for vaginal application creams and gels are used. They act locally and the design and preparation hardly differ from corresponding dosage forms for cutaneous use. In the subsequent sections some aspects of semisolid preparations for rectal and vaginal use will be discussed that are not encotmtered in cutaneous use. 

The generally low lipid content and the poor viscosity of lipid nanodispersions make these preparations, as they are, less suitable for dermal drug application. The handling of the preparation by the patient is improved by SLN incorporation into ointments, creams, and gels. Alternatively, ready-to-use preparations may be obtained by one-step production, increasing the lipid phase to at least 30%. However, increasing the lipid frequently results in an unwanted increase in particle size. Surprisingly, it has been found that very concentrated (30 to 40%) semisolid cetyl palmitate formulations preserve the colloidal particle size [10]. 

Pharmaceutical products can be classified as liquid solutions, disperse systems (e.g., emulsions, suspensions), semisolids (e.g., ointments), and solid dosage forms. Liquid solutions are homogeneous mixtures of one or more substances in pharmaceutical liquids. The understanding of the physicochemical properties of liquid solutions and processes to prepare the liquid solutions is an important step in preparing final liquid solution dosage forms. In this chapter, the solutions of gases in liquids, liquids in liquids, and solids in liquids, as well as colligative properties of solutions and their application to pharmacy, are discussed. Disperse systems will be discussed in Chapter 4. 

Suspensions Heterogeneous systems containing coarsely dispersed material that settles. A wide variety of pharmaceutical preparations have been used as suspensions, for example. White Lotion, Magma of Bismuth, and Compound Mixture of Opium and Glycyrrhiza (Brown Mixture). In addition, several official ointments are suspensions of solids in a semisolid base. A large number of suspensions are categorized as mixtures in the United States Pharmacopeia and the National Formulary ... 

Herbal Salves Salves are semisolid fatty preparations such as balms, creams, and ointments. Salves are prepared similarly to herbal oils, except after the herb soaks in oil, melted wax is mixed with the oil. The balm, cream, and ointment are then formed, as when wax cools and hardens. 

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