Side Effects of Carac or Efudex

Hi, Suz!

You are doing really well to hang in there as long as you have!  It sounds like you are getting a good reaction.  I do find it appalling that your doctor (or any of our doctors, for that matter) did not prepare you for what you may look like! 

Today I am on Day 21 of carac to the area between my upper lip and nose.  I have gotten the typical reaction there.  LOTS of white peely skin, some cracking skin, red dot scabs, yellow scabs, one very thin vertical red scab beginning at the left side point of the lip, and of course, solid red skin throughout. Also very tight and swollen.  Keep in mind, my doctor saw no suspicious lesions or anything in this upper lip area.  This is all stuff that was lurking under the surface. 

I am about 10 days post treatment (after 24 days of carac) for my forehead and cheeks. My reaction was very different in these areas.  Only bright red, with splotchiness on the outer cheeks, jaw, and forehead.  No blisters.  Something did seem to weep out of the pores.  It know that sounds odd, but it was not sweat.  The redness has faded alot now.  Even the spotchiness is less noticeable, although it is still there.  Forehead looks kind of shiny smooth.

Keep up the good work, everyone!   Just remember, you are not alone!

gloria,

i read about aldera and it sounds like the same kind of drug as carac or effudex.  it said it was newly approved to treat superficial basal cell ca and aks. (also warts)  the treatment sound the same. i dont know about specifically treating the lips.  have you started yet?  hang in there.  im on 22/28 carac treatment and miserable. i think i treated too large an area at once. face, arms, chest and back.  im on the second day of trying to reach the derm to ask for a note to stay out of work. i just cant go like this.  im worried about getting a bleeding ulcer from all the advil im taking.  ive been pretty much housebound for the last couple weeks so its getting kinda depressing. i tried to go to work friday(put makeup on my face) but i felt like crawling outta my skin from the pain and stinging from the makeup.  my face was bleeding when i washed off the makeup. plus im worried about exposing all this raw skin to the horrible resistant germs i work with everyday, (im a nurse in an icu)     good luck with your treatment.  ive read that treating the lip is very painful.

                                                 suz

carrieann,

thanks for your support!  i dont know how youre going thru this twice. im hoping to never do this again. but i guess we do what we have to do.  it better than facing disfigurment later.  i have alot of spots that arent responding to carac so i guess ill have to get them biopsied when this is over.  i enjoy the jokes and support these messages have given me.  if i have a question, it seems all i have to do is scroll back far enough and eventually i find answers.  much more informative than my doc.  my family use to tell me i didnt look that bad,(trying to make me feel better) now they just look at me each morning and say Does it hurt?  i drove my 12 year old son to baseball practice the other day and he asked me to drop him down the block from the field.  i feel like i have agoraphobia. i dont want to leave the house for fear of seeing someone i know!  cant wait till things are back to normal. thanks again

                                         suz

Hello, fellow Carac or Efudex warriors! 

I just finished 18 days of Carac treatment, the last 10 of which I could NOT have completed without this site.  I learned from you to:

1. Use Dove (it's fine, but I also had an extremely mild soap that stung and burned minimally)

2.  Use baby wipes (sans frangrance and chemicals) to wipe my face.  Very soft as I wiped away sheets of dead skin. And, yes, they are reusable.

3. Slather on Aquaphor.  (I'm thinking of buying stock now!)  Nothing else calmed my skin.  Until I learned about it on day 9, I suffered intense pain and itching, barely able to make it through the day.  Nights were miserable in spite of either Tylenol PM or Benedryl. (I am allergic to NSAIDS.)  Aquaphor kept me going.

Knowing others experienced the same agony helped.  But, more importantly, I felt confident when I called my doctor on the 19th day to tell her I couldn't continue.  I was supposed to go 28 days, but when I heard of others' reactions to the treatment, I knew I'd had enough! My doctor agreed, saying the treatment wasn't to make me miserable, but to rid me of the bad cells.  I was out of town, but from my description, she felt confident Carac had done its job. 

I learned all of the tricks of treatment from this site.  And I'm definitely going to share the information with my doctor, encouraging her to be more forthcoming with full disclosure about this horrible treatment when she talks with other patients.  I suffered needlessly for days before I stumbled on this site.  It shouldn't be that way.

 

So  THANK YOU.  I'm almost sleeping through the night and nearly sane again.  Although, my husband my disagree! 

 

 

 

lousy,

i was just told to stop carac too, on my 23rd day of 28 day treatment.  im glad but disappointed because i wanted to complete the regimen to ensure getting rid of all the aks.  after going thru all this, i never want to do this again!!  the doc told me there was too much destruction of the skin (face,chest,back and arms) to continue and ordered a steroid cream. i agree with you, this site has been a lifesaver. it provided me with way more info than the doc. (im going to swith derms when this is over) he wrote a note for a week off work (WOW) to heal. i called last week to tell him how bad my skin was and he recommended long sleeves and a turtleneck.  when he agreed to see me today, all he said was"wow" and wrote the note.  id like to see him on carac.  but he did sell me a 40 dollar sunscreen. he seemed happy to talk about that. anyway, im looking forward to going out in public again. good luck!

                                               suz

Hi all,

I am on day 7 of post efudex 2x per day for 14 days. I'm beginning to wonder if it was worth it, or maybe I should have been on it a little longer. I haven't had much peeling, other than along my laugh lines, and that wasn't where I had most of my redness/reaction.  The bright, bright red is fading from my skin, but the red spots (AK's ?) on my cheeks, forehead, and temples aren't peeling and didn't blister... they just seem to be fading. I have developed several little white bumps on my forehead and chin, and I can't figure out what they are. They look like little flat blisters, but they are hard and aren't filled with liquid like a blister. They're more like a very light skin colored flat mole. Has anyone else experience these, and will they go away?  They itch, and it's tough to keep from picking them. Are these latent AK's coming to the surface?  My doctor didn't seem concerned about the treatment, in fact she didn't want to see during the treatmenht period at all, so my next dr. appointment isn't for two more weeks.

Did anyone else develop similar white 'growths' during or shortly after treatment?

hey everyone.

im 3 days post carac treatment (once dailyx 28 days).  i had to stop early, on my 23rd day due to too much erosion.  my derm ordered a steroid cream which i applied once and almost jumped outta my skin from the pain.  two days later my skin was worse than ever. my entire face, chest and back blistered. the skin is oozing yellow and bloody fluid and my pain is unbearable.  i went back to the derm yesterday and he started me on an antibiotic cream, an oral antibioitic, and percocet for pain. i tried to apply the antibiotic cream before and the pain was excruciating. i washed it off and applied vasoline. now im running a temp and feel miserable.  has anyone else had this experience?  im scared i have an infection. i wish i never tried this carac cream and i have no faith in this dermatologist. he didnt know what to do when he saw me.  since ive been reading this site and heard other people's treatment, i asked for an antibiotic cream.  i also requested the oral antibiotic. if im not improved by tomorrow, ill prob go to the hospital where i work, as i dont trust this derm.  any feedback from anyone out there would be much appreciated.

       tks, suz

Oh my goodness.  You sound absolutely miserable.  I had that kind of reaction when I was doing my lower lip w/ carac 28 days, yellow and red oozing and blistering.  Huge scabs as big as raisins.  It has cleared up now, if that is any comfort to you.  I was only doing that small section then, so I was not having nearly the amount of pain that you are experiencing. (I am the one doing one small section at a time, now I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.)  We are all thinking of you. 

Jaycee, I never did peel (much) on my face and forehead.  I think I did about 25 days/carac.  I stopped a few a days early because my face was so swollen.  Many of the ak areas on the outer cheeks and forehead have faded, but the skin is not like baby skin...I guess because it didn't peel.  Some small brown areas have shown up that were not there before (on upper cheek and smile line).  I have a couple of those flat white, smooth places you are talking about, on my forehead.  They are a little bit raised, almost like a keloid.  I certainly hope those go away!  I am not sure about this, but I think I hindered the peeling by using aquaphor from the getgo.  Don't get me wrong, I Love aquaphor.  If anyone is just starting out, my personal recommendation is to wait until you start flaking or peeling before using the aquaphor.  I used mega amounts of aquaphor on my lower lip and did not hinder the erosion there.  The aquaphor softens the lesions so that you can later wipe them off w/ a tissue (and make room for more lesions to develop!). 

Now, I am still doing the area between the nose and upper lip.  My upper lip is now doing the bleedy, yellowy thing.  I will do 28 days.

Take care, everyone.  Redcat, Sarla, Paleface, Aceace- if you are out there- did your aks all disappear?  Let us know how you look now.  Hope you are doing well out there in the real world~

I am just starting carac 14 days 2x a day. I am only on day 3, but have been reading these posts for a few days and would like to go through this with someone! If you are just starting, or are ahead of me let's talk! I am wondering how long I will be able to work (I am a Kindergarten teacher!) before I scare everyone! Has anyone made it through while working full time, raising three kids and living on a ranch????? Also, is aquaphor available over the counter and would you recommend aquaphor or vasoline?

I am just starting carac 14 days 2x a day. I am only on day 3, but have been reading these posts for a few days and would like to go through this with someone! If you are just starting, or are ahead of me let's talk! I am wondering how long I will be able to work (I am a Kindergarten teacher!) before I scare everyone! Has anyone made it through while working full time, raising three kids and living on a ranch????? Also, is aquaphor available over the counter and would you recommend aquaphor or vasoline?