Transdermal iontophoresis - A quantitative and qualitative study

The use of enhancers to increase the drug molecules penetration into target tissues is an usual technique in drug delivery. In transdermal drug delivery, electric fields are often used to increase the drug transport through the skin. In this paper we study a drug delivery mechanism from a reservoir which is in contact with the skin. We assume that the drug transport in the coupled system is enhanced by a small electric field that induces a convective field. We establish energy estimates for the coupled system and we propose a semi-analytical discrete coupled model that mimics the continuous model. The qualitative behaviour of the system is illustrated.