A review on emerging applications of emulgel as topical drug delivery system

Topical drug delivery is a convenient mode of drug delivery to treat localized infections. Topical medications are available in many dosage forms, such as creams, ointments, gels, pastes, and lotions. Both emulsions and gels are known for their benefits as topical preparations with few limitations. The literature on emulgel formulations was searched in June 2021 from various scientific journal articles. From a total of 102 searched articles, 24 duplicated articles and 36 irrelevantly judged on the abstract or full papers were excluded. Finally, 47 articles were selected for review. Emulgel possesses many promising properties for dermatological use such as being greaseless, easily removable, easily spreadable, emollient, non-staining, longer shelf-life, transparent, having an elegant appearance and having less potential to cause serious side-effects. Many formulation scientists have started to develop emulgel using various active pharmaceutical ingredients, especially which are hydrophobic in nature. We conclude that formulated emulgels have shown excellent results in aspects such as appearance, rate of drug penetration to skin, rate of drug release and therapeutic response. This review article is mainly focused on formulation, ingredients, methods, and recent developments in emulgel formulations.