The Intersection of Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Technologies

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Traditional cosmetic products are developed to improve the beautification or appearance purpose only without addressing the underlying cause and associated adverse effects. These cosmetic products contain different types of chemical substances (most commonly preservatives, solvents for dyes, perfumes, etc.) that may be harmful (allergic reactions are very frequent, carcinogenicity) to the human body. Another important factor that needs to be considered is the barrier function of the skin, which causes the ineffectiveness of most traditional cosmetic products. The stratum corneum layer is the outermost layer of skin, which is impermeable to most of the substances. These reasons necessitate the design, development, and evaluation of cosmetic products by integration of pharmaceutical technologies. Pharmaceutical technology provides an exhaustive and science-based application of materials, processes, and equipment for the development of different types of cosmetic products. It is now extensively reported that a suitable selection of biocompatible ingredients, used in appropriate proportions in cosmetic products, has shown improvement in the beautification of hair, skin, and nails with less adverse effects, decreased application frequency, deeper penetration into skin layers, reduction in overall cost, and minimization in the root causes of skin, hair, and nail problems. Nanotechnology-based (niosomes, liposomes, etc.) cosmetic products are the most commonly investigated platforms in recent years. In the initial sections, this chapter contains basic aspects of cosmetics and its challenges. In subsequent sections, important aspects of pharmaceutical technology and the intersection of pharmaceutical technology in cosmetics are discussed. Further, applications of pharmaceutical technology-mediated cosmetic products are summarized.