The paper deals with an effect of insoluble fungal beta-(1,3)-glucan on rheological properties of topical preparations. Two types of hydrogels (based on carbomer and polyacrylamide) and two types of hydrocreams (based on polysorbate 80/Span 80 and Brij 721TM/Brij 72) were prepared and investigated. The rheological properties of all these preparations were compared with the properties of placebos and they were measured after preparation and after 5 months of storage under different conditions: at 20 degrees C and 35 degrees C and after a triplicate freeze-thaw cycling process (-20 degrees C/+20 degrees C). In general it can be stated that with the exception of polyacrylamide hydrogel the beta-(1,3)-glucan presence increased the apparent viscosity of assessed preparations by approximately 10-20%. In the case of hydrocreams it was observed that the triplicate freeze-thaw cycling process increased the apparent viscosity of beta-(1,3)-glucan preparations by about 20-30%.