Liposomes and Other Nanocarriers for the Treatment of Acne Vulgaris: Improved Therapeutic Efficacy and Skin Tolerability

This study provided 18 evidence-based recommendations for managing acne vulgaris, strongly endorsing treatments like benzoyl peroxide, topical retinoids, and oral isotretinoin for severe cases, and issued conditional recommendations for therapies like salicylic acid and spironolactone, while offering good practice statements on combining treatment methods.

This study developed a niosomal delivery system loaded with tretinoin and bicalutamide, optimized for follicular targeting in acne management, showing promising accumulation in hair follicles in animal models.

This review article highlights how hair follicle-targeting drug delivery systems enhance therapeutic outcomes and reduce side effects for treating conditions like androgenetic alopecia and acne vulgaris. The authors discuss current formulations and evaluate their performance in both preclinical and clinical settings.

In this study, researchers tested lotions containing DGLA, S-equol, and propionyl-l-carnitine on individuals with androgenic alopecia, noting a significant increase in hair count for women and a marginal increase for men after 6 months, along with improved hair cycle dynamics.

This study found that polymeric micelle formulations significantly improved the targeted delivery of adapalene to hair follicles compared to standard Differin® products, which suggests potential advantages in treating hair follicle-related conditions and reducing side effects.

In this study, the researchers reported that chloramphenicol-loaded liposomes, particularly those incorporating deoxycholic acid, enhanced follicular uptake and showed strong antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, offering potential for treating MRSA-infected skin conditions with good skin biocompatibility and minimal toxicity.

This study found that adapalene-loaded nanospheres in a hyaluronic acid gel enhanced skin penetration and were nonirritant, making them potentially suitable for treating acne on oily skin.

In this study, TyroSpheres were used to encapsulate adapalene, increasing its solubility and enhancing skin distribution while reducing irritancy compared to a commercial formulation, indicating promise for acne treatment in ex vivo and in vitro settings.

This study demonstrated that adapalene encapsulated in liposomes significantly improved drug delivery to hair follicles compared to gel and drug solution, potentially targeting acne treatment more effectively.

This review examines the potential of nanoparticles for localized drug delivery via hair follicles but reports no new clinical results, with the authors noting a lack of commercial development despite research progress.

This study confirmed that the novel solid lipid microparticle formulation of adapalene demonstrated follicular penetration potential and targeted particle erosion in sebum in in vitro tests.

This study observed that a topical liposome formulation of a 5‐α‐reductase inhibitor effectively reduced the size of treated sebaceous glands and induced apoptosis in a hamster model, suggesting potential benefits for acne treatment.

This study found that incorporating steroid hormones into DPPC liposomes altered their physicochemical properties, including size, zeta potential, and phase transition temperatures.

This study quantifies the follicular uptake of tea tree oil in bovine udder skin, with microemulsion showing the highest concentration among different formulations tested.