Picato (ingenol mebutate) gel?

I did not have a very severe reaction either.  However, rest assured that if you indeed have AKs the Picato gel should do its job.  Just wait a few more days.  Around day 8 you should see some noticeable effects. 

Hang in there.

On Dec 26, 2012 11:15 PM picatogeluser wrote:

I did not have a very severe reaction either.  However, rest assured that if you indeed have AKs the Picato gel should do its job.  Just wait a few more days.  Around day 8 you should see some noticeable effects. 

Hang in there.

Ok - that's good to hear. Thanks for your reply. Right now my skin just feels really dry and there are small patches of redness where the AK's are. But the moisturizer I'm applying does seem to be helping a lot. Based on your experience with Picato, I am hopeful that my treatment will be successful. I will try to be more patient... Thanks again for your help and advice. Mary

I had the exact same experience.  Once the red patches peel/flake off, you should see noticeable changes.  By 2 weeks, you will know final results.  Keep in mind the tubes are really small and some retreatment may be required for areas that were not well covered the first time around.  I am pleased--better than liquid nitro.

On Jul 31, 2012 10:27 PM Jdc0626 wrote:

I just finished my third day with Picato for my lip. Thank goodness I read these posts in advance so I knew what to expect. The pain on day two was intense. I also suggest to do the treatment in the morning. At my worse pain, I put baby Ambesol on my lip to numb it. Also, if you are doing only one lip, be sure not to get the gel on the other lip or your tongue. It burns!!! Last but not least, my insurance (which is usually very good) would not cover the cost. It was $700 for three little, itsy bitsy tubes!! I paid out of pocket because I don't want to mess around with this thing on my lip. Overall, I would recommend this product for the small area that I used it for. For those who did their whole face in one shot, I have the deepest sympathy!

Hi. My doctor just prescribed picato to treat my lower lip. I noticed it is not for oral use. How did you apply it to your lip and protect the other lip? Also, how did you make out with the treatment?

Hi. I have seen other sites saying it is not for oral use as well but I trust my physician. When I applied the picato I put a piece of paper towel inside my mouth between my lips and teeth. Let the application dry about fifteen minutes to keep it from getting on you tounge because it burns. (learned that the hard way). Lol its a pretty serious treatment.

On Dec 27, 2012 4:52 PM Mamaroar wrote:

Hi. I have seen other sites saying it is not for oral use as well but I trust my physician. When I applied the picato I put a piece of paper towel inside my mouth between my lips and teeth. Let the application dry about fifteen minutes to keep it from getting on you tounge because it burns. (learned that the hard way). Lol its a pretty serious treatment.

Great.  I trust my physician as well.  How did your treatment turn out?  I've already been through mohs surgery (for squamous) and two efudex rounds since then.  I am hoping this picato will be the last of it.

I am new to this and here is what I posted in a new post about my treatment. Hope it helps. Ouch! I'm not sure why I felt I needed to contribute to this site but I am a 55 year old female who has never had any previous medical issues. A few months back I had a dry patch on my lower lip and thought I would see someone about it. We did a biopsy (that was attractive) and fround I would need to use a three day treatment of picato to address the problem. So here's how its gone so far. Day 1 I applied in the evening several hours prior to bed. Some discomfort but I slept through the night. Work up to a massively swollen lower lip with blisters below the lip line. Not to painful just very unattractive. I thought it may be a reaction but this site assured me it was normal. Took ibuprofen and aleve to get through the day. Day 2 I took the advise of others and did then application in the morning. (recommend this as it is much easier to tolerate the discomfort when you are active. ) gel burned for a couple hours when applied I used ice to control the pain. Dryness and tightness where tolerable. Uncomfortable to eat as it effected the corners of my mouth as well with small blisters and open sores. Day 3 woke up with less swelling but large areas of dead skin. Hard to brush your teeth as the tooth paste burned the raw areas. I am not going to sugar coat it at all. It Takes GUTS to apply the third application. Raw exposed skin on the lips and application of picato will bring a grown woman to her knees. Lol. The burning lasted about two hours and then starts to subside. I don't know what to expect on day four. I was told if you apply picato to an unaffected area nothing happens. Well I guess in my case the damage was there since my reaction was intense. I wanted to share my experience with others as I found the information here to be very helpful. Expect it to hurt because it does! give yourself time to use treatment as prescribed. Plan ahead. Take a Friday off so you will have the weekend to go through this. Be strong and know your doctor is offing you options they believe will benefit your health concerns. I grew up in California. I was a life guard in the late 70's and spent many a long day in the stand without sun protection. It catches up with us in the end. I have excellent health and have faith in modern medicine. But I hope I never have to do this treatment again. good luck to everyone! B

I am 57 and have been treating various skin cancers for years. I used Fluoracil 5% topical cream on my arms and inspite of alot of pain, the skin looks 10 years younger and all the spots we were watching are gone. My arms were extremely red and sore and the cream burned most all of the skin off!   Due to that strong reaction my Doctor prescribed Picato but she has never had anyone use it before me so did not have any experience with results.  I used the stronger doesage which directs you to apply it for 2 days, on my calves.  I am concerned about the results. I did not get much of a flare up on the area I applied it to although I got a burning sensation in my mouth and eyes and a headache about 2 hours after applying. 4 months have gone by and there are still alot of red spots that look questionable on my legs so my Doctor has me using Fluoracil on the same areas I used Picato gel.  This it the  10th day of my 21 day treatment and I have alot of breakout on my legs which makes me wonder if the Picato worked at all.  It sounds like people that used it on their faces had a lot better results.

 

Hi Everyone! I hope everybody is getting along through their treatments well!  I just wanted to give an update. ...

I used Picato on my entire face back in July 12.  Over the holidays, I had a crusty spot appear on the bridge of my nose, right where sunglasses would rest. I had my scheduled follow up with the Derm this week and pointed it out. It's not a spot that was there when I used the Picato, but a new one. I am now starting Flourouracil 5% for my nose and my right shin where a BCC has come back, 2x per day for 6 weeks. Ugh!

The doctor stressed that the Picato didn't neccesarily "fail", but the damage to my skin is there and I will have new spots pop up, and probably have to repeat treatment over time. wonderful. 

Anyway, I would have thought that after the treatment I wouldn't have new spots only 5 months later. For the price tag on Picato, I would expect more.

Melody

Hi, Melody-

I did my whole face in October with Picato and it was rough. It cleared up numerous (as in MANY) AKs and one or two spots I'm fairly certain were BCC. Skin looked great and I thought it had cleared everything. Then, about 8 weeks later a spot on my nose that is BCC started to spot bleed again. I had gotten my first dose- the three microscopic tubes- as part of a trial so I called in and got a script for another batch, bit the price bullet and treated just my nose. That wasn't too rough at all- about 3 days total of swelling, burning, itching. Then it cleared up. 8 weeks later that spot is back. So I quite certain that it's not going anywhere without some other sort of non-topical treatment and I'm REALLY not wanting more Mohs. 4 on face already and I'm just tired of being a whack job, if you know what I mean. As a very interesting aside, two days of the three when I was doing my whole face, I cut open the tube, eeked out the remainder and applied it to a spot on my shin that I am know was a BCC. It had been festering off and on for over a year and the white patchy area below the skin was about the size of a dime. The lower dose Picato used on the face wiped it out completely. Absolutely gone. Go figure.

Clearly, Picato works. Does it work as well as Effudex (Flourouracil)? I don't know. It works faster and it definitely does the job on many, most lesions. The other thing I'll say for it is this: it's a plant based derivative that has been used as a folk remedy in Australia for 200 years for skin lesions of all sorts. That makes me feel a little safer about using and re-using it than Flourouracil. There's no excuse for it costing so much. And I'm at the point where I recognize that I will be doing maintenance on my skin on an ongoing basis, watching spots, derm visits every 6 mos, burning off this, freezing off that. I'm not at all vain but I am really knife shy at this point. I have a feeling there are Moh's surgeons who are excellent surgeons but would gladly see you as one continuous lesion rather than a whole person. So, for now, I'm watching my nose, hoarding my last two tubes of Picato and keeping my fingers crossed. 

Good luck with your new treatment and please keep us posted with updates. Good luck. Thanks, Melody!