Day 6 Of Efudex

I am on day 6 of 5% Efudex 2x a day and it hasn't done much of anything yet, I have had some burning like I have a sun burn and twinges of itching.  I am getting some red spots on my arms but it looks like new spots and the old AK's seem to be doing nothing?  Does it take awhile to effect the AK's that are visible on the skin.  I am doing my arms and legs.  Maybe I'm not putting enough on?  I put it on and rub it around until it disappears but maybe I am thinning it out too much. 

 For those that have done this treatment already, what do you think?

Thanks,

Tanya

Hi, Tanya.  I am on day 31 of applying Efudex 5 to my lower legs (acutally, this is my 6th time trying Efudex, but the first time I'm actually seeing results).  I don't know why Efudex is more effective on other body parts, perhaps because the skin is tougher on the legs.  But I was unsuccessful in my previous attempts.  I would go to the dr., he'd biopsy one, find it was an AK and tell me to use Efudex for 6 weeks--nothing happened except for maybe a few red spots.  I tried socks on my legs, even saran wrap...nothing seemed to make it penetrate.

Prior to this course of treatment and conviced I didn't have AK, I decided to use a strong Retin A on my legs.  Within a couple days, it looked like I had developed a case of acne.  I immediately stopped the Retin A, and I switched to Efudex.  Almost immediately the Efudex started working on my legs and I now have a very significant amount of erosion all over my legs (although only small sections look as severe as some of the forehead pictures I see on the site).  I'm very hopeful that these are the results I've been after for the last 5 years.  I have some pain and relentless itching, but I try to remind myself that maybe it's working this time. By the way, at bedtime, I put on mostly cotton knee socks with the feet cut out). 

Right now my concerns are how will I know when to stop (is 6 weeks enough?) and how long will it take to heal, since legs are very, very slow in healing.

My advice to you is to give it two weeks.  If you don't start to see something resembling a break-out, call you doctor to find out if he would recommend something to kick-start the process.  I wish you all the luck in the world.  I hope you see results faster than I did.

Sincerely,

Ann

Wow!  I was wondering that maybe the skin is tougher on the legs.  I am putting it on my lower and upper legs front and back but keeping it away from back and top of knees because of bending so much, same for arms but just the top of my arms that the sun got to most of the time and keeping it away from my elbows.

I  am going to try it for 3 weeks and see what it does. I will be starting my second week tomorrow, Sat.  If it does what it is supposed to I will have 6 weeks to heal before my cruise so I hope thats enough time since you said legs are very slow in healing.  If it doesn't work I'll go back to my derm after my cruise and ask him "what to do now"?

Thanks for the information and keep me posted on your progress and I will do the same.

Have a great weekend!

Tanya