A “Back To School” Post for September…
What Are Topical Medications?
Topical treatments like creams, gels, ointments, and foams—are designed to stay on the skin’s surface and act locally. They help with skin issues such as infections, inflammation, or muscle soreness without entering the bloodstream. Think of antibiotic creams or anti-inflammatory gels that ease pain right where they’re applied.
What Makes Them Work?
These products minimally penetrate the skin layers—exactly as intended—to treat a specific area, avoiding the rest of the body.
What Are Transdermal Medications?
Transdermal medications are often delivered via patches and are made to go deeper, passing through the skin into the bloodstream to affect the whole body—like delivering medicine to the brain, heart, or nervous system.
Why Use Transdermal Delivery?
- Delivers medicine steadily and continuously.
- Bypasses the digestive system for better absorption and fewer side effects.
- Easy to stop—just remove the patch.
- Great for patients who can’t swallow pills or may forget doses.
Technology Behind Transdermal Medications
- Unlike simple topicals, transdermal formulations include special enhancers (like chemical penetration enhancers or CPEs) that help drug molecules cross the skin’s stratum corneum—the outer barrier layer of the skin.
- Some systems use tools like microneedles, thermal ablation, or nanoparticles/ micelles to increase absorption even further.
- These enhance how much of the drug actually reaches deeper tissues or the bloodstream, potentially increasing absorption from as little as 1–5% to more than 40%.
When to Use Which?
| Use Case | Topical | Transdermal |
| Target Area | Skin surface only | Systemic (whole-body) or deep target areas |
| Delivery Mechanism | Passive, minimal penetration | Enhanced penetration via special methods |
| Examples | Antibacterial, steroid, pain creams | Patches for nicotine, pain, hormones, etc. |
| Goal | Local relief | Sustained, controlled medication delivery |
- Topicals are great when you need relief in a specific spot, such as a sore muscle or rash—think gels or steroid creams.
- Transdermals are preferred when you want a steady, predictable delivery to the bloodstream, for medications like pain relievers, hormone therapies, motion sickness patches, and more.
The Bottom Line
Topical and transdermal meds might appear to be the same—they both go on your skin—but they’re quite different in how they work. Topicals treat only the surface, while transdermals are created to be able to travel beneath your skin and act throughout your body.
At ACS we carry both Topical-ACS Balms and MAVZ RollOn and Transdermal-Yellow Labs Creams products. So, whether you’re looking for a localized effect or for a deeper /systemic effect-we’ve “got you covered”!
Top of Form
Bottom of Form