Fluorouracil (5-FU) is a chemotherapy compound which has been around for a long time. For topical (on the skin) use, it is sold as Efudex and Carac, and is used to kill cancerous or pre-cancerous skin lesions. Actinic Keratosis, or Solar Keratosis, is a condition in which there are generally many spots, some visible and some not, some of which will become skin cancer if untreated. So, fluorouracil is often prescribed as a method of killing many of the pre-cancerous spots before they become cancer and have to be removed by freezing or cutting.
The Efudex, or Carac, treatment is itself not very pleasant. The drug is prescribed when it is deemed to be preferable to addressing the individual Basal Cell or Squamous Cell cancers one at at time over a period of years.
1 response so far ↓
Sally // Sep 8th 2008 at 7:49 am
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I’m on day 13 of a 4-week regimine and my doctor told me almost nothing - not how to apply the cream (and the scrip said “use as directed”) not what to expect except that it would be ugly, and my follow-up visit isn’t until 9 days after stopping treatment, so presumably I’m not being given any steroid scrip, either. And this is an derm-oncologist at a top-notch teaching hospital!! Anyway, I’m very grateful for the information you’ve shared.
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