The Right Formula for Acne: Importance of Vehicle Formulation in Tazarotene 0.045% Lotion Design, Application, Tolerability, and Efficacy

Figure 4

Tazarotene deposition in the skin after application of 0.045% lotion and 0.1% cream. (a) Methods: (1) ∼0.1 g of tazarotene 0.1% cream and 0.045% lotion were applied to opposite volar forearms. (2) 6 hours post-application, D-Squame 7/8” tape strips applied to treated areas and held under controlled pressure (225 g/cm²) for 10 seconds to ensure contact between tape and skin. (3) Tape strips removed; first strip discarded; 20 additional strips taken at same sampling location. (4) Even-numbered tape strips processed and analyzed for the tazarotene content using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Detailed study methods are available in Draelos et al. [33]. (b) Concentration of tazarotene recovered measured at each tape strip 6 hours post-application. Size of each dot corresponds to tazarotene concentration. Differences in tazarotene concentrations were greatest at superficial skin layers. Skin layers are for illustrative purposes only; exact location of tape strip sampling within the skin was not assessed.

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