The aim of the present investigation was to develop and characterise clobetasol propionate loaded microemulsion based gel for the treatment of psoriasis. suitable oil, surfactant and cosurfactant were selected based on the solubility, hlb value and biocompatibility. pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were constructed to identify the microemulsion existing zone and to get a tentative surfactant to cosurfactant ratio. clobetasol propionate loaded microemulsion was developed by water titration method and characterized. optimised formulation was then formulated into microemulsion based gel by adding carbopol 934p. comparative in-vitro drug release of formulations was studied for 12 hrs and data fitted to different release kinetic models. drug concentration in different skin layer was determined by tape stripping method. globule size, zeta potential, drug content of developed formulation containing oleic acid as oil, tween-80 as surfactant and isopropyl alcohol as co surfactant were found to be 31.56 nm±3.5, -29.2 mv± 5.26 and 99.23%±0.35 respectively. drug permeation data fit well to higuchi equation plot (r2 = 0.972) indicating the diffusion rate limited drug permeation from developed formulation. study of cutaneous deposition of drug in skin for 12hrs indicated that gel showed 14.85±1.4% drug deposition of applied drug which was 7.7% and 4.8% more than that of marketed formulation and plain drug gel. tape stripping study revealed that 4.2±0.8% of more drug was present in epidermis than that of dermis layer of skin. hence developed formulation was considered to be safe for topical delivery of clobetasol propionate to treat psoriasis.