dumb things - well I think we all do dumb things because we are trying to do the right thing. Nothing wrong with being optimistic or hopeful. But I may have done a really dumb thing too. My doctor told me to use the Efudex on my cheeks, nose and forehead. But I thought, why not do the whole face (chin)? Maybe she missed something. Besides, she said that if there is no damage, the TX will not affect good skin. Well the day after I started, the chin had two big areas of red that have gotten continually worse. Far worse than any area on my face that I was supposed to treat. I have very sensitive skin, and I know that certain foods "seem" to bother it - NOT substaniated by any allergy tests - they can't find anything that shows an allergy or intolerance. However, the night before I started the TX, I had a bowl of tomato soup in a restaurant. It was highly concentrated soup - not the usual Campbell soup variety. Nothing the next morning - so I just started the Efudex. That night I had red spots in the same area that I sometimes get patches after eating certain things. I did debate with myself and then decided that maybe those patches have always been related to sun damage - so I continued. However, so far, none of the other areas of my face have gotten as bad - so now I think that I started the treatment on irritated skin - thus the dramatic response. I have stopped treating that area - I can always try that area again if I need to - but it is pretty bad. I am putting Triple Antibiotic ointment on it and will call the the doctor if it doesn't improve this weekend.
I have been reading a little bit about the Levulan and the photo treatment. I would like to hear more about it from those who have tried it.
Also folks refer to Efudex and Carac. One message stated that they used Efudex and later tried Carac. Aren't they the same thing, just made by different companys? However, the Carac company stated that you can use lotion after a few hours, whereas Valeant (efudex) says not to put anything on it. All this can get so confusing.