Hi Jean. I was told that the carac/effudex would only effect those areas which are potentially cancerous; growing a little faster than normal skin. My prescription was once a day, at night, for 28 days. Directions vary per case, it appears. I could see during the treatment, the areas on my face which were frozen off prior to the carac treatments. They remained normal in color and texture while all the skin around them reddened and/or "blistered," etc. to varying extents. So, it appears that your skin is not in the same shape as mine was (years and years of exposure / suntanning/ etc. - stupid!!). Now my face looks fantastic! It's been 10 days since my last application and my skin is just a rosy pale pinkish and there is NO evidence of the prior AK's, lesions, etc. It looks GREAT!! We all have varying degrees of potential cancerous areas so, I imagine, yours is not quite as advanced a case as was mine. I used the vaseline starting around day 16 (I should have started sooner as my skin dried out quickly) and it helped so much. (Remember to wait a minimum of 2 hours after applying the carac/effudex before using vaseline on the area). I am now applying bacitracin (sp?)in the evenings, Cotz total sunblock during the day. I believe the discomfort I experienced would not have been so pronounced had I moistened my skin w/vaseline earlier in the treatment. Live and learn. Good luck to you