Side Effects of Carac or Efudex

Hi aceace,

I hope you are healing well. I can't tell you, how much your pictures have helped all on the board. I was wondering if I could convince you to post some of your post treatment pictures. I know that would be a big help to all.

I look at the pictures and and think , my God, how many surgeries have been avoided?

Take care!

Hello Woodsideguy41 (Kevin) and all,

I'll see if I can find some time to add some current post-tx photos.

Don't be intimidated. I was told by most that the photos I posted were extreme compared to what others experienced. Maybe a couple people said they looked like my case, so I would say the odds are good yours will look better, especially if you have been diligent with the 50+ spf and the big hats through most of your outdoor life.

Hmmm ... about work:  everyone is really sympathetic and understanding, and also will stare a bit too.  I guess it will look like a sunburn (probably a bad sunburn) at the least, and like my photos at the most.  So it will have be totally up to how comoftable you are with it.  I forced myself to go shopping and to my work, and it was fine.  Most children and a few adults would stare at me and give me wide berth.  If you do go to work, you can use this event to evangilize to others about the dangers of the sun. Be very happy that this is temporary.

 Aceace

On 10/17/2008 aceace wrote:

Hello Woodsideguy41 (Kevin) and all,

I'll see if I can find some time to add some current post-tx photos.

Don't be intimidated. I was told by most that the photos I posted were extreme compared to what others experienced. Maybe a couple people said they looked like my case, so I would say the odds are good yours will look better, especially if you have been diligent with the 50+ spf and the big hats through most of your outdoor life.

Hmmm ... about work:  everyone is really sympathetic and understanding, and also will stare a bit too.  I guess it will look like a sunburn (probably a bad sunburn) at the least, and like my photos at the most.  So it will have be totally up to how comoftable you are with it.  I forced myself to go shopping and to my work, and it was fine.  Most children and a few adults would stare at me and give me wide berth.  If you do go to work, you can use this event to evangilize to others about the dangers of the sun. Be very happy that this is temporary.

 Aceace

 Thanks for the reply Aceace.  I'm a pretty shy guy who doesn't like to draw much attention to myself.  The idea of commuting to work on a NYC  put me off a little bit.  I'm sure if I start talking to myself no one will even give me a second look!  I'm a red head with blue eyes and I had a couple of bad burns as a child.  I  stayed away from the beach and the pool for most of my life and the only time I do get sun is on the tennis court.  I wear a hat, glasses and 50+ sunscreen so hopefully my case won't be that bad.  I gave my HR rep a heads up and I showed him your pics.  He said I can do whatever I want. So I if I can't man-up and head into work, it shouldn't be a problem.  I'm thankful that this is only temporary and I know it could be a lot worse.  I'll post an update when I start treatment.  

I've had a few successful applications of Efudix on individual and areas of AK on my forehead and above it. So in August I started another session on the back of my scalp to remove 2 AK. It got flakey and itchy after I stopped and I gave one AK a bit more as it didn't seem to respond.  

So I went to the doctor and he said I had some eczema which is a common side effect and gave me cortosone for it.

He said I shouldn't have used Efudix twice a day and I should stop now and see him again in 4 weeks.

It's only 2 weeks since I stopped using it but I'm a bit worried that what looks like a small AK is still there, although the rest of my head is going smooth. I've had scabs taking weeks to clear before but it doesn't look like a normal scab.

Anyone else any comment on stuff needing freezing off after using cream?

My webpage on my BCC and Bowens experience and other stuff I've picked up is here: www.page2020.co.uk

First of all, I realize my situation isn't nearly as dire as most I've read on this thread.  My heart goes out to those who have had to treat their whole face for this condition! 

I'm lucky enough to only have one small AK on my upper lip. It burns and itches and for a long time, I just kept medicated Blistex on it to keep it at bay, naive to what was really going on.   After visiting the derm to have moles checked, he noticed it, tried freezing it off and gave me some Solaraze to put on it for a few weeks. That was back in February.  It seemed better for a few months but eventually returned, so yesterday I started a four week, once a day Carac treatment. 

My question to the readers here is, have any of you tried it on the delicate skin of the lips?  My doc said there was little reference material available for treatment on the lips and warned me that it may be especially painful, but assured me it would be the most effective way to treat it.  My first application last night at bedtime felt no worse than the itching burning feeling that it usually has.  But from what I've read, it tends to become beastly by day 10.  I'm lucky enough to have a spouse who won't be squeamish and shriek at the site of me, though I'm not looking forward to not being able to kiss for weeks!  Heaven knows we'll be having a good makeout session when I'm fully healed!

Any shared experience would be appreciated. 

On 10/20/2008 chappy_pappy wrote:

First of all, I realize my situation isn't nearly as dire as most I've read on this thread.  My heart goes out to those who have had to treat their whole face for this condition! 

I'm lucky enough to only have one small AK on my upper lip. It burns and itches and for a long time, I just kept medicated Blistex on it to keep it at bay, naive to what was really going on.   After visiting the derm to have moles checked, he noticed it, tried freezing it off and gave me some Solaraze to put on it for a few weeks. That was back in February.  It seemed better for a few months but eventually returned, so yesterday I started a four week, once a day Carac treatment. 

My question to the readers here is, have any of you tried it on the delicate skin of the lips?  My doc said there was little reference material available for treatment on the lips and warned me that it may be especially painful, but assured me it would be the most effective way to treat it.  My first application last night at bedtime felt no worse than the itching burning feeling that it usually has.  But from what I've read, it tends to become beastly by day 10.  I'm lucky enough to have a spouse who won't be squeamish and shriek at the site of me, though I'm not looking forward to not being able to kiss for weeks!  Heaven knows we'll be having a good makeout session when I'm fully healed!

Any shared experience would be appreciated. 

 

Hi Welcome,

I am on day 18 of a 21 day treatment with carac. I applied it to my whole face and lips, but didn't get any response on the lips, just above and below the lips and most of my face responded.

 If I remember correctly someone did post about applying it to the lips and stated the response started about the 3rd day, faster than the rest of the face, but cleared up much faster. I don't remember who it was or when it was posted. I read all the posts first , and there are a lot of them.

Only 3 more days and I will be finished and can't wait. If this saves us from furture skin cancers, it will be well worth looking like a monster for a few wks. I have already had numerous surgeries for melanoma, squamous cell and basal cell carcinomas . I was surprised that there was that much left on my face to show up.

Good luck with the treatment.

Thank you for the encouraging words, goodtobeme.  It's day five for me and nothing beastly has happened. In fact, the itching/burning that the AK causes is much better right now.  I know it probably won't last, but like you said it will be worth it just to get the junk off of me. 

I'm guessing that a few years from now, I'll be facing more AK's showing up on my face and will keep these stories in mind so I know what to expect.  I wish you luck with the rest of your treatment!

Hi all, I just put on my last application of a 21-day Carac treatment. As everyone has said, a horrendous few weeks that only someone who has experienced can understand. I haven't posted until today but got online almost every night to read this message board and get the strength and comfort that I needed. Thanks to everyone who has shared their experiences. I never thought I would make it--but I did. And so can all of you who are in the middle of this. I wish you the best.

I do have a recovery question I'm hoping someone can answer. My temples and cheeks (underneath my eyes) are quite raw and have peeled several times, but the rest of my face has just turned red and spotty, no peeling or raw skin. And I now have brown spots all over my face that I didn't have before. Will these brown spots fade or disappear? Are these AKs that I need to worry about in the future? I would appreciate any advice from someone who has "recovered from recovery."

Thanks!

I've read so many hundred of posts on this topic, I feel like I've already done the treatment. But in actuality, I started two-a-days today on my face, and I have the whole, lovely two-to-three weeks to look forward to.

My derm recommended only two areas -- my nose (two obvious lesions and probably some small ones) and a region on my right cheek. I'm in California with Kaiser, so you don't get to talk with these chaps very long. But after reading these posts and viewing the required Texas Chainsaw Photograph sequences, I think it best to cover a little more territory with my Efudex. So I'm overruling my physicians and using the cream on my nose, both cheeks, my temples, sideburn areas, and my entire forehead. I see the little AKs here and there, so I might as well go after them now rather than make this a piecemeal thing that will take years.

I'm lucky, in that I'm self employed and live in the country. I need not show my hideousness to anybody but myself. I imagine I might sharply reduce my time looking at the mirror, for mental health reasons. Those online photos are quite arresting, let us say. And my brother (who is now warned, and is constantly scanning his entire body for AKs) will go do the shopping for me, and maybe quietly leave a bag of medical supplies and foodstuffs on the porch while he hears the low moaning from inside my temporary skin clinic....

I have a question.  I am on day 18 of Fluorouracin 5% 2 x daily on my arms, shoulders, hands and chest.  My chest is burning and probably has 100 spots on it that are beginning to erupt.  My arms still look mostly like measles with very few spots and even less of them errupting.  Should they be further along by now?  I keep wondering if I am doing something wrong in the application.

Thanks for any info. 

 ~ Lynn