Absorption

Absorption is how the drug gets from the container into your blood stream.

You can take ivermectin in two ways: by swallowing a tablet or liquid (oral administration) or by rubbing it onto your skin (topical administration) [1].

This diagram was drawn by the authors, based on a variety of scientific sources [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

Oral Administration

Taking ivermectin as a tablet or liquid means that the drug acts more powerfully [2, 3]. This means that less of the drug is needed to achieve the wanted effect (of killing a parasite). However, this also increases the risks of side effects and toxicity.

When ivermectin is swallowed, it travels through your stomach and into the small intestine [2, 4]. Here, it's absorbed by small intestinal cells called enterocytes [4, 5] Ivermectin should then travel to the liver [5].

However, a small pump on the membrane of the cell (called p-glycoprotein) pushes ivermectin back into the small intestine [4, 5].

This can cause absorption of ivermectin to occur in waves, and more slowly than other drugs [2].
This means takes about 4 hours for ivermectin to reach its maximum concentration in the blood stream [2].
- Because of this, it may take up to 4 hours to tell if someone has taken too much ivermectin.
- You can learn more about the symptoms that might appear if someone's taken too much ivermectin here.

Topical Administration

When ivermectin is rubbed onto the skin, a little bit of the drug is absorbed, and carries out its effects on the area [1]. However, some may be absorbed into the blood stream and travel around the body [6].

It's harder for ivermectin to be toxic when it's rubbed onto the skin, but it can still happen if you apply too much, so always use the prescribed dose.

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