healing scars from efudex

I would assume by now, 2/14/08, you have had something show up.  The first week I used Efudex nothing much happened either.  It is the second week that the action starts.  There are a couple of websites with journals and pictures that could be of interest:  http://efudex4bcc.freewebsitehosting.com/.  I am near the end of week two and trying to decide what happens next.  My skin is full of red blotches, tight and feels like a bad sunburn, but there is still a lot of regular skin left.  Will be talking to the doc later today for more direction.

Hello. My doctor recomended a treatment with efudex. I have a few AK that she burnt with liquid nitrogen but suggested there could be more lessions underneath. I´ve been looking at some pictures and am horrified that my whole face would look like that. The doctor told me that the face only turns red in the places where there are any lessions but to me it doesn´t look like that in the pictures where I´ve seen people with their whole faces red and burnt (eventough the recovery pictures are amazing)

 

In your comment you say that there were places where your healthy skin didn´t turn red. Does that really happensa. What should I expect? I asume that because of my age (37) my skin could not be that bad eventough I took a lot of sun when I was young.

 

I would appreciate some help.

It is true that Efudex has no effect on normal skin.  It seeks out the disorganized skin cells that are precancerous or already cancerous, so if the skin is not damaged, there will be no reaction.

I just finished my 14 day treatment with Efudex and here's what happened.  For 9 days nothing happened. On the 10th day, I noticed some very small red spots showing up.  By day 14, they had turned into huge red splotches all over my face.  It looked like I had bad acne (again lol).  My skin was very red and tight and it did feel like a sunburn.  It has now been another 15 days since I stopped using the cream.  My face never peeled but the redness has slowly lessened and the color is nearly "normal" again.  My skin does not look any better than it did before treatment though and I also now have 5 noticeable pock marks to boot!  I was going to have 1 any way because I had a small basal cell lesion that was going to have to be frozen off but I never expected to have 4 more.  Oh well, I am a 50 year old married guy so I guess it doesn't matter that much lol.  But people need to be aware that Efudex will probably cause pock marks if you have much sun damage.

 

 

The pock marks will go away!    It is surprising how quickly, too - keep using aquaphor to moisturize your skin at least morning and night.   Soon you will be silky smooth again.

 

FYI, in my 2nd week I looked like part of the Michael Jackson Thriller video.  It was really scary - but I had seen time lapse pictures of someone else so I just had faith and went through with it.  I figure a couple of weeks looking really bad were better than letting cancer form on my face.    The pock marks cleared up completely within maybe 2 weeks.

 

I have since gone on to have PDT treatments to work on removing any leftover layers of questionable skin.   Side benefit - no more wrinkles (if you moisturize properly between treatments  again, aquaphor is safe to use).  

 

 

     How long ago did you finish your Efudex treatment?  Are you still applying aquaphor to moisturize at night?  I had only used it for 3 weeks, how long did you use it?   My new doctor also told me to wear long-wearing makeup during the day (ONLY to begin a week after the treatment is completed) to help the skin heal faster...apparently some ingredient that makes it long wearing helps your skin heal faster.  She said any long wearing makeup (no age-defying or wrinkle removing fancy ingredients - just plain old long wearing but with a sunscreen in it) .  She recommended titanium dioxide as the sunscreen ingredient becuase it is better for your skin.  I got some over the counter make up base at Walgreens and I also have some by clinique (Super CityBlock 25 spf which I special ordered cause they stopped selling it in the store).   The clinique is very sheer and good for a guy who doesnt want it to look like he has makeup on, but I used the over the counter stuff for the first couple of weeks because it covered more.  As I recall I used a very thin layer of Aquaphor on my face first, waited for a few minutes while I did other things, then blotted off the excess and applied the long wearing makeup.  Try it...it might help you!

     Like you, I was told to use the Efudex (and later Carac) chemo cremes over my whole face so that there would be no skin color difference between treated area and non-treated areas.   Also, if you had pock marks show up all over it was because there was probably an abundance of abnormal cells there that you killed, don't you think?  My skin never peeled either - just got pink and nasty looking.  I had only a couple of deep pock marks but was happily surprised to see they all healed over reasonably well within like a week or two and then faded away completely in another couple of weeks.  

     Since then I felt itching/tickling and was afraid it was coming back so I was prescribed Carac creme and got one deep pock mark from using that which did not go away. 

     I dont rely on doctors to remember to tell me anything..  Anything they tell me, I go look it up on the internet - skin conditions, medications, I look them up.   Some sites are not reliable but if you look at enough you get a good idea of what to really expect.  I remember reading on the internet how there could be scarring with both of these, but personaly I have been willing to take a chance on a scarring because my suspected skin cancer was in the middle of my face and I figured skin cancer there would be worse than a scar. 

     The only alternatives  I know of are surgery (which I was told is more likely than the cremes to leave scarring, even mohs can leave a small scar) or blue light treatments (the PDT did little for me - depends on if the nurse is doing it right so one time I would have no reaction and the next time I would - effectiveness was unpredictable and 2 mos after completing a round of 8 treatments and leaving with their blessings I had another pink spot come up anyway).   My condition is only pre-cancerous but I am trying my best to kill it and keep it from coming back or getting worse.   I am now using Aldera creme and the doctor I have wants me using it over a long time at very small doses...which may be to decrease scarring...she said if I see a reaction to cut back frequency...which is fine with me, I would rather still look presentable for work if the treatment can be done discreetly....though if I do it 3xweek for 32 treatments I'll be using this stuff for a few months.    I would still rather take my chance on scars over cancer any day.   

     Try the long wearing makeup; it may help your scars heal over faster!  

Keep your skin moist DAY AND NIGHT - with Aquaphor.  I was told that keeping it moist was necessary to help the scars heal.   After you finish the treatment, work with the Aquaphor round the clock for a few days then also use a long-wearing makeup over it during the day.   You may want to blot it before you apply the long wearing makeup or you'll be very shiny.

BTW if you want a really really good sunscreen you can wear to work without that shiny wet skin look, I have been using Banana Boat SUNWEAR spf 50 which you can get from their website if you can't find it at the store and it only costs like $8 for a huge tube.  It has avo-triplex so it won't break down in the sun, a high SPF, non-greasy AND it comes in a huge tube so it's cheap.   

I'm recommending only the regular SUNWEAR formula.  The sunwear formula for faces was more irritating to my skin and in a much smaller tube so not something I'd recommend.

Thanks for the advice and caring enough to post.  My skin is still red in places and it has been 3 months since I stopped using it.  It has gotten a little better but is still there.  I am using the Aquaphor and will look into the long wearing makeup.