Cutaneous pharmacology and toxicology

The fields of cutaneous pharmacology and toxicology existed as long as man used topical therapy; some medicaments were helpful and others harmful. This review documents recent progress in these fields in terms of the experimental method. Emphasis has been given to conceptual and methodologic progress rather than a list of new molecules. As signs of the advent of the maturity of these fields, a graduate school course has recently been completed, one text has been published (7), and at least two are in preparation. It is likely that the next review of this topic in this series will reflect this considerable progress in terms of relevance to man.