The literature is abounding with attempts made repeatedly and sometimes successfully to carry agents into the body through the intact skin by using lipid suspension. The success of systemic drug delivery from liposomal formulation after topical application is low because of the inability of such vesicles to pass through the narrow (< 30 nm) intercellular passage in the outer skin layers. Ethosomes and elastic liposomes also known as Transfersomes. These are modified lipid carriers that enable drugs to reach into deeper skin layers and/or the systemic circulation. These are soft, malleable vesicles tailored for enhanced systemic delivery of drugs. This article reviews the work carried out in vitro, in vivo in both animal and humans with various ethosomal and transfersomal formulations with particular emphasis on ethosomes. Ethosomes represent a lipid vesicular carrier system embodying ethanol in relatively high concentration and are very efficient in delivering drugs into and across the skin. Unlike classic liposomes, that are known to mainly deliver drugs to outer layers of skin, ethosomes penetrate through the stratum corneum and deliver drugs to the deeper layers of skin.
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