Route of Administration
Topical
Last updated
Applied to the skin surface with the intended action in or on the skin itself. The stratum corneum, the outermost barrier layer, is built to keep large water-loving molecules out, and most peptides are both large and water-loving. Topical is therefore a local proposition, and how much crosses into the deeper layers is a formulation question that the word itself does not settle.
Why it matters here
Cosmetic records state a percentage in the jar. That is a concentration in the vehicle, not an amount delivered to living tissue, and the two are kept apart deliberately here.
What it is not
Topical and Transdermal are not the same claim: topical means acting where it is applied and transdermal means crossing the skin to reach the bloodstream. The alias transdermal cream collapses that distinction and is indexed because sellers use it, not because it is accurate.
Also called
- topical
- cream
- gel
- serum
- transdermal cream
Cream, gel and serum are vehicles rather than routes. They resolve to this term because that is how people search, and the vehicle itself is recorded in its own field.