Topical drug delivery methods can be further subdivided into various categories and they include methods such as transbuccal, transmucosal and transdermal methods.
Transbuccal drug delivery methods are those methods where the medicine is placed under the tongue or near the cheek. The medicine is not swallowed down the throat but remains the mouth level only, and involves slow release of the drug to the body.
Transmucosal drug delivery methods administer the drugs through the mucous membranes, which refer to those surfaces which are in contact with air and include respiratory and alimentary tracts. Eye drops and asthma inhalers come under this categorization.
Transdermal drug delivery methods involve the administration of drugs though the skin. A good example of a transdermal delivery system is the nicotine patches which are applied on the arm
You must have got the answer the question asked in the previous section that why is the topical method not suited for drugs with higher dose efficacies – simply because only a small amount of the drug can be administered using any of the above mentioned methods of the topical delivery system.
Despite this disadvantages, one of the advantages of using this method is that the drug applied directly to the affected part, hence the time to get relief is normally very fast in the absence of any intermediate media, which is a very desirable feature hence the popularity of these methods.
