Bryan B. Fuller and Dustin R. Smith
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U. S.A.
Inflammatory skin diseases are extremely common dermatological problems that present in a variety of forms, from occasional rashes accompanied by skin itching and redness to more chronic conditions such as atopic dermatitis, rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis, and psoriasis. Combined, these conditions affect over 35 million Americans who annually spend over $2 billion to treat their symptoms. This chapter will provide an overview of the inflammation process, review current drug, over-the-counter (OTC), and cosmetic topical treatments for several inflammatory diseases, discuss research approaches that can be used to identify new anti-inflammatory compounds to treat various aspects of inflammation, and finally, provide an overview of how topical formulations containing novel antiinflammatory compounds can be developed and characterized.