The effects of surface preparation on the penetration of hydrocortisone through canine skin.

This study investigated the effects of common skin surface preparations on the penetration kinetics of hydrocortisone through canine skin. Thoracic skin from five dogs was clipped of hair, divided between five treatment groups and prepared as follows: shaved (S); tape-stripped with adhesive bandage (TS); cleaned with aqueous chlorhexidine (Aq-C); cleaned with alcoholic chlorhexidine (Al-C); or allocated to the control group and had no further preparation performed (C). The skin samples were mounted in Franz-type diffusion cells and transdermal hydrocortisone penetration was measured over 30 h. The pseudo-steady-state flux (JSS) of hydrocortisone through S, Al-C, Aq-C and TS skin was, respectively, 2.3 (P = 0.021), 2.2 (P = 0.037), 2.0 (P = 0.070) and 1.5 (P = 0.351) times greater than through the control skin, but there were no significant differences in the lag times (tlag) for hydrocortisone penetration between the groups. The study has shown that some skin surface preparations can significantly increase the subsequent penetration of hydrocortisone through canine skin in vitro.