###### Created: 2023-09-12 10:50
###### Areas & Topics: #medicine
###### Note Type: #permanent
###### Connected to: [[Cystic Fibrosis]]
- Iontophoresis is the process of passing a weak electrical current through the skin
- It is used in medicine to allow transdermal delivery of certain medication
### Mechanism of Action
- Essentially how it works is that you have two chambers.
- One chamber contains the charged active agent (i.e. the drug you're delivering) and a solvent vehicle (e.g. water).
- The other chamber (or electrode) is just used to receive the returning current.
- If your agent is a positively charged chemical species, the chamber will be positively charged as a current is driven through it.
- This will cause repulsion of the agent (drug) through the skin via electrophoresis/elctrosmosis and allow it to be delivered transdermally.
- This can be thought of as giving an injection with no needle.
### Resources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iontophoresis