Can I Use Makeup While Using Fluororacil

Victoria Skin Cancer Screening & Early Diagnosis

Patient observations whilst using 5-FU (Efudex)

This patient was kind enough to share his experience past keeping a photo diary and making some notes. This is intended to be used for information purposes only.

Day 0

Day 3

Twenty-four hour period 9

Day 14

Day 19

Solar day 27 (terminal day of application)

5 days after last Efudex application

4 weeks afterward last application of Efudex

"The hints beneath are what I found to piece of work and non to piece of work for me. They might be useful. Your friendly pharmacist may as well be a source of good advice. Firstly, my treatment was for lord's day damage (actinic keratosis, typical for my light complexion) on my forehead and scalp, the worst at the front."

Erosion. The treatment consisted of applying the Efudex, twice a day for 4 weeks, or until in that location was "erosion" or "edema" or scabbing and discharge. If you lot are a gardener, geologist or engineer, you know what "erosion" means to you. The question is – what does it mean to your dermatologist. In my experience, it was the sort of skin shedding that happened afterwards y'all got that terrible sun burn when you lot were immature and indestructible, or the kind of skin shedding when y'all use a pumice stone on dry skin. Scabbing and discharge is easy to imagine. The edema is swelling. I did not get that or possibly a footling, so I cannot comment simply information technology is the erosion interpretation that nigh patients take difficulty with. Of class, the erosion will not exist at all compatible, so what do y'all do. In my instance I continued to apply the cream to those areas but more sparingly and not at all to areas that were scabbing. This worked O.K.. I bought a box of medical latex gloves to utilize the Efudex.
Washing and Re-applying. You should take been told that this is the worse bit. The washing is bad enough and what do you lot wash with. Having tried the mildest shampoos including infant shampoo, I found that Softsoap manus lather hurt the least. And then you must wait 10 minutes before re-applying the Efudex. This tin can be excruciating as the skin dries out. The Efudex appears to incorporate products that sooth and lubricate, then when yous re-apply, it is quite a relief. The instructions said that y'all could use lord's day screen two hours after application. I found that this worked if I used sunday screen that contained titanium dioxide and was not greater than SPF 30. The SPF 45 and lx stung badly. I besides institute that the liquid dominicus screen Vichy thirty SPF for the confront, was the mildest. It seems to have the aforementioned medical ingredients every bit the more flossy variety, so it is probably the not-medical ingredients that sting.
Recovery Stage. I stopped i day short of the full 4 weeks because of the extent of erosion and scabbing. So came the recovery phase. I read and tried many of the recommendations re what handling to use during this fourth dimension.
- I found Polysporin worked well and after trying Vaseline petroleum jelly and Aquaphor as additional moisturizers, I found that the Polysporin acted quite well as a moisturizer itself. Both Vaseline and Aquaphor work well and don't hurt only are incredibly messy and difficult to clean off without hurting. Moisture wipes without alcohol work quite well for wiping off the Polysporin and the Vaseline. I let the hydrocortisone dry out before calculation the Polysporin sparingly. Some people have pointed out that petroleum jelly (Vaseline) does not moisturize. It simply prevents loss of moisture. It is however, quite soothing but also keeps air from the skin.
- Some detect Aloe Vera gel to be quite good. I tried this on the 5th day of the recovery phase and could not remove it fast enough (with gentle wet wipes) as it stung severely and I returned to the cortisone foam and Polysporin routine.
Sunscreen. After stopping the Efudex, I could not use sunscreen without information technology stinging too much, until half-dozen days after stopping. Then I could use the SPF 30. There had been quite a lot of erosion (skin shedding) and I just looked desperately sunburned but I felt that I could re-bring together humanity. I could also use Lubriderm for dry or sensitive skin afterwards a week into the recovery period. It stung for a few minutes but was tolerable.