Since my hair has really thinned up top I've been experiencing a lot of Keratosis and one occurrence of Basal Cell Carcinoma which was surgically removed. Doc has prescribed 3 week treatment with fluorouracil. Talked with him at length about it and I'm not too concerned but it's always nice to get the opinions of others who have used this powerful med.

I’ve used it in combination with calcipotriene (?) twice a day for 4 days on my scalp. Since starting the use of it twice a year, I’ve had to get Moh’s surgery on squamous cell carcinomas 2 times. In 18 months. They’ve now run out of skin to stretch, to sew up holes on my scalp and have said next time they’re going to have to do a graft.

Dermatologist tells me it’s merely coincidence, although I can’t help but suspect the medicine is making my actinic keratosis problem worse instead of better.

I’ve told her I’m not interested in continuing the use of it. So now I’ll get the freeze treatments 4x a year.

I've had them frozen off twice a year for several years but those buggers keep coming back. I no longer go in direct sunlight without a hat, yet there they are. So I hope this works.

I went through a 2 week program applying fl to my face am and pm. Serious, powerful medicine. Basically a skin peal as it chemically removes the top layer of skin. Think raw meat. Very painful but it worked wonders on clearing up years of sun damaged skin. Dr told me to use it in the fall but she gave it to me in the spring. I used it in late spring/early summer.

During the height of my treatment I had a table at National Gun Day. Women I didn't even know were giving me hugs and sympathy because my face hurt them.

I lasted 11 days and quit. Burn Gel Plus helped with the pain better than anything I tried.

It's been 8 years since I used it and my skin is still in good shape. Good luck.

Fluorouracil is part of the "5FU" (pronounced five eff you LOL) chemo protocol that I go thru for colon cancer.

I get high doses via I.V. every 2 weeks.

I guess the "doctors" (whoever they are) discovered that 5FU has positive impacts on skin conditions that are NOT cancerous yet.

While I imagine the stuff they put on you topically is no where near what they do via I.V. for cancer, it is concerned a cancer fighting chemo drug.

I've heard of great success using 5FU for certain skin conditions and treatments.

It's interesting what you find out when you are taking LOTS of drugs...

Good luck!!!

James

quote:

Originally posted by NavyGuy:
I've had them frozen off twice a year for several years but those buggers keep coming back. I no longer go in direct sunlight without a hat, yet there they are. So I hope this works.

I’ve been told that my keratoses were probably caused by old damage from sunburns I got as a child, that I could stay indoors for the rest of my life and they’d keep appearing. I wear a hat from dawn til dark, and long sleeved shirts. Most of my problems are on my scalp and face.

Using fluorouracil and calcipotriene 2x/day for four days burns the shit out of my scalp. I don’t think I could do it for more than a week. Hopefully your scalp isn’t as tender as mine is.

quote:

I’ve been told that my keratoses were probably caused by old damage from sunburns I got as a child, that I could stay indoors for the rest of my life and they’d keep appearing. I wear a hat from dawn til dark, and long sleeved shirts. Most of my problems are on my scalp and face.

^^
My dermatologist said the same. The only time I wore a cap as a kid is when I played baseball.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

I’ve been told that my keratoses were probably caused by old damage from sunburns I got as a child, that I could stay indoors for the rest of my life and they’d keep appearing. I wear a hat from dawn til dark, and long sleeved shirts. Most of my problems are on my scalp and face.

^^
My dermatologist said the same. The only time I wore a cap as a kid is when I played baseball.

Same here. I just returned from my annual "skin check". The dermatologist froze about 5 PAKs. It's been this way for me for years. They fall off a few days after the deep freeze.

I've been using it off and on for about 4 years now. Originally the doc had me do 2x/day but I couldn't stand the constant burning after 3 days. Over time we've reduced the treatment to 3x/week for 8 weeks in the fall. The stuff works great, but damn if it doesn't burn like hell. Makes me red and uglier too.