Liposomes in Skin Care

Liposomes in skin care are used to enhance the delivery of an ingredient into skin.

A liposome is a sphere-shaped, closed, fluid-filled vesicle that encapsulates an ingredient and delivers it to a targeted area of the skin.

The wall of the sphere is made of one or several layers of phospholipids, which are similar to the phospholipids in skin cell membranes. This enables the sphere to penetrate the lipid barrier of skin.

Because a liposome can penetrate the lipid barrier of skin, it is able to deliver the encapsulated ingredients from the Stratum Corneum (outermost layer of the epidermis) to the lower layers of skin. Many ingredients don’t get this far due to their inability to penetrate the lipid barrier.

A liposome is a form of microencapsulation.