Abstract

Two past decades have seen the rapid emergence of nanotechnology. Recent findings in the field of nanotechnology have led to exciting opportunities in biomedical research specially delivery systems. Nanoformulations have been developed with aim to enhance the efficacy and reduce toxicity of drugs by addressing multiple drug delivery challenges such as bioavailability and solubility. In the past decades, various nanocarriers-some approved by the FDA, some undergoing investigation-have been reported for their applications in medicine. Among them, lipid-based nanoformulations have attracted considerable attention because of their unique properties including good biocompatibility and versatility of the lipids used and improved solubility of hydrophobic compounds. In this chapter, we focus on application of lipid-based nanoformulations for systemic and topical treatments of skin diseases. We first describe the structure of the skin and lipid-based nanoformulations. In the next section, treatment of skin disorders using these nanosystems (such as liposomes, ethosomes, etc.) is comprehensively reviewed. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017. All rights reserved.