Nanocarriers and Microcarriers for enhancing the UV protection of sunscreens: an overview

This review addresses a major question of importance to pharmaceutical scientists: how can novel drug delivery systems play a role in maximizing the UV protection of sunscreens? Since more and more people are being diagnosed with skin cancer each year than all other cancers combined, adequate sun protective measures are pivotal. In this context, the present review is to give an up-to-date overview on the different nanocarrier systems that have been explored so far for encapsulating different types of UV filters present on the market. The aim of these carrier systems is to prevent skin penetration and to enhance the photoprotective potential of sunscreen actives. For each supramolecular system, a brief description along with the studies, achievements and pitfalls, on the type of UV actives inside them, ranging from classical UV filters to new generation of UV actives is given. A brief over-view of UV filters encapsulated in microcarriers is also discussed.