The document discusses creams as a semisolid dosage form containing drug substances dispersed or dissolved in a suitable base. It defines oil-in-water and water-in-oil creams and provides examples of each. The key steps in cream preparation and various tests to characterize creams are described, including determining type of emulsion, viscosity, pH, globule size, stability, and spreadability. Creams offer advantages over other semisolid forms like being less greasy and more easily washed off.

1. Mr.R.R.Patil
Dr.Shivajirao Kadam College of Pharmacy,
Kasabe digraj, Sangli.

2.  Creams are defines as “a semisolid dosage
form containing one or more drug substances
dissolved or dispersed in a suitable base”
 Creams are semi-solid emulsions of oil and
water.
 They are of a softer consistency & lighter
body than true ointment.
 semisolid emulsions of either O/W or W/O
type.

3.  Oil in Water (O/W) Cream
 Water in Oil (W/O) Cream

4.  oil-in-water (O/W) creams which are composed of small
droplets of oil dispersed in a continuous phase.
 More comfortable and cosmetically acceptable as they are
less greasy and more easily washed off using water.
 Emulsifying agents of natural origins( bees wax, wool
alcohols, wool fat).
 Emollient and creamy, white or translucent and stiff.
 E.g. Vanishing Cream

5.  water-in-oil (W/O) creams which are composed of
small droplets of water dispersed in a continuous
oily phase.
 More difficult to handle but many drugs which are
incorporated into creams are hydrophobic and will
be released more readily from a W/O cream than
an O/W cream.
 More moisturizing as they provide an oily barrier
which reduces water loss from the stratum
corneum, the outermost layer of the skin.
 e.g. Cold Cream

6. COSMETIC CREAMS
 All purpose cream, baby cream, barrier cream,
bleaching cream, cleansing cream, cold cream,
hair cream, hand cream, vanishing cream.
MEDICATED CREAMS
Medicated creams are contains active
pharmaceutical ingredients.
 e.g. Cetrimide cream used as antiseptic.
Zinc oxide cream used as astringent.
Hydrocortisone cream - treat rashes like
poison oak or poison ivy


7.  Preparation of the oil phase: Flake/powder ingredients,
sometimes dry blended in advance, are dispersed into
mineral oil or silicone oil. Heating may be required to
melt some ingredients.
 Hydration of aqueous phase ingredients: Emulsifiers,
thickeners and stabilizers are dispersed into water in a
separate vessel. Heating may be required to accelerate
hydration.
 Forming the Emulsion: The two phases are blended
under vigorous agitation to form the emulsion.
 Dispersion of the Active Ingredient: The active ingredient
often makes up only a small proportion of the
formulation; this must be efficiently dispersed to
maximize yield and product effectiveness.

8.  They gives prolong contact in their site of
application than any other pharmaceutical semi-
solid dosage forms.
 Injured area can be dried quickly by creams than
other semi-solid preparations.
 Non-irritating when applied to the skin.
 Easily water washable. Easy to wipe away.
 Less greasy compared to ointment.
 Easy to spread on the skin's surface (i.e. easy to
apply).

9.  Stability is not as good as ointment.
 They are less hydrophobic than other semi-
solid preparation, so risk of contamination is
high than the others.

10.  It should liquefy at body temperature.
 It should penetrate the epidermis (via natural
opening).
 Its viscosity should be low enough to permit easy
spreading.
 It should be non-toxic.
 It should be non-irritant.
 It should be non-inflammatory.

11.  pH of the cream
 Viscosity
 Rheological behavioral of the cream
 Determination of type of emulsion
i. Dilution test
ii. Dye solubility test

12.  The pH of various formulations was determined
by using digital pH meter.
 About 1gm of the cream was weighed and
dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water and stored
for two hours.
 The measurement of pH of each formulation was
done in triplicate and average values were
calculated.

13.  Viscosity of the formulation was determined by
Brookfield Viscometer.
 At 20 rpm at a temperature of 25o C and the
determinations were carried out in triplicate and
the average of three readings was recorded.

14.  The rheological property was determined to
know the flow behavior of formulation.
 The viscosity at different rpms was measured
using Brookfield viscometer.
 The rheological behavior of the formulation was
studied by taking 100 g of the cream in the
beaker.

15.  The rate of shear was increased gradually
from minimum to maximum and
corresponding dial reading was noted; then,
the rate of shear was decreased gradually to
the lowest value and the dial reading was
recorded.
 The graph was plotted between percent
torque and viscosity to determine type of
flow.

16.  Globule size
 Phase separation
 Moisture absorption studies
 Shelf life
 Spreadability

17.  1 ml of cream was diluted to 10 ml with
glycerin.
 A few drops of this were transferred onto a
glass slide and was focused in a microscope.
 By using eyepiece micrometer, the diameters
of 200 particles were determined randomly.

18.  The formulated cream was kept intact in a
closed container at 25 - 300C not exposed to
light.
 Phase separation was observed carefully every
24 hrs for 30 days.
 Any change in phase separation was checked.

19.  About 50 mg of cream was taken on a watch
glass.
 A beaker was taken with full of water and was
kept in a desiccator without adsorbents.
 Watch glass with cream was
introduced into the desiccator.
 It was left for 24 hrs.

20.  The formulated product was stored in different
temperature conditions like room temperature,
450 C and 550 C to accelerate degradation for
1 month.
 Samples were withdrawn periodically every week
and observed for drug decomposition by taking
the absorbance under UV spectrophotometer.
 From the concentrations, and the temperatures,
the shelf life of the product can be estimated.

21.  The Spreadability was expressed in terms of
time in seconds.
 Take two slides to slip off from the cream,
placed in between the slides, under certain load.
 Lesser the time taken for separation of the two
slides, better the Spreadability.