Development and moisturising properties of palm oil containing aqueous cream for topical delivery / Nurul Hidayah Suhaimi

Aqueous cream is a non-greasy moisturiser used to moisturize the skin. Moisturizers are the most prescribed product in dermatology which helps to sustain the skin's integrity and hydration. Due to this, it is used to treat dry skin conditions. In addition, moisturisers can reduce skin friction and sustain skin hydration by providing water directly to the skin from their water phase and occlusion properties. In this study, palm oil containing aqueous creams were formulated to see its hydrating properties in comparison to normal aqueous formulation containing liquid paraffin. Palm oil is a natural oil that possesses emollient properties due to the presence of high amounts of tocopherols and tocotrienols which will help to increase the skin hydration. Formulations containing palm oil and liquid paraffin were produced and physically characterised using LumiFuge (Stability), Mastersizer (Particle size), Texture analysis and pH meter. Efficacy studies were conducted using Corneometer (Capacitance), Tewameter (TEWL) and Visioscan. All data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistic Data Editor to determine the significance difference between the various formulations. Based on the results obtained, the aqueous cream containing 9% palm oil is the most ideal moisturiser. This is due to the high capacitance values and lowest TEWL values as compared to the other palm oil and paraffin based formulations. When compared to the commercially available Pharmaniaga aqueous cream, it showed no significance difference in the skin capacitance values but with reduced TEWL values, which were significantly different. In conclusion aqueous cream containing 9% palm oil was superior in maintaining skin hydration than the commercially available Pharmaniaga and paraffin based aqueous creams.