28/03/2026
Medicine compounding is the art and science of combining drugs or medicines together into one tablet or cream. You will definitely have come across compounded medicines before – co-codamol (codeine and paracetamol), Augmentin (amoxicillin and clavulanic acid), most cold and cough remedies…the list goes on.
Compounding skincare is definitely not a new idea. By combining two creams into one patients are more compliant with treatment and the two medicines work synergistically so the product is more effective. Epiduo gel, fucibet and daktacort are just a few examples of commercially available compounded creams.
True compounding is bespoke and personalised – the doctor decides what medicines are best suited for the patient and prescribes the best treatment in the most appropriate concentrations to deal with that specific problem. This requires the doctor to understand the medicines, how they interact and how they ‘work’ on the skin. And that is an entire skill set on its own!!
These creams are ‘freshly made,’ not batch processed and each patient’s treatment is crafted individually. The products have a finite shelf life because they have minimal preservatives or random things added – it’s just the medicine and the vehicle.
The key to compounding is flexibility – a true compounding lab is capable of making pretty much any combination of strengths the prescriber wants to use (within limits of stability and safety – note not all drugs are stable together – you can’t combine tret with BPO for instance). With online prescription dermatology services, if you ask for one medicine in your cream to be taken away or reduced that shouldn’t be a problem – the creams are not ‘pre-mixed’ and are made individually for each patient on the day they are shipped.
For Dubai appointments please email appointments@drnataliaspierings.com and for UK appointments please email shazia@drnataliaspierings.com
