My dermatologist has prescribed Cerac cream as a treatment for pre cancerous lesions on my forehead and the sides of my face. I think it is similar to Efudex but you apply just once a day. I have never done a course of Efudex but did you Picado about 5 years ago. That treatment had you only applying the cream for 3 days. The dermatologist said that many of her patients did not react to that treatment. The manufacturer has a coupon for Cerac making it just a copay of $35.
What should I expect? The Dr has you come in at day 5-7 and at that point she will make a recommendation as to how many more days I will need to apply. She think 1 to 2 weeks. From what I’ve read online it seems most apply for a longer period.
I know I will get red. For those who have done the treatment how long till I will look somewhat “normal”? Any tips on getting through the course of treatment. Was it worth the discomfort?
I did Carac for 2 weeks. The first week wasn’t bad but the second week my face started to feel like I had the worst sunburn I ever had. After that I used a hydrocortisone cream to help the healing go faster. It took about 2 to 3 weeks for my skin to look normal after the Carac applications ended.
In the end it did get rid of one obvious emerging lesion and probably stopped non-obvious ones too. It was definitely better and cheaper than the mohs surgery I had a year earlier, so I would say it was worth the discomfort.
If these are precancerous lesions (presumably actinic keratoses?), I wonder why they chose the cream. My doctor always uses liquid nitrogen to freeze them off (which is a nuisance because it means having to take time off from work for multiple office visits).
I wonder when they choose the medicines and when they choose the freeze gun.
From my experience, I can assure you that it will all be just a bad memory very soon. I used quite a lot of Aquaphor and was back to normal within a week after the Carac.
Freezing can leave small white areas (depending on your skin tone). Also, some of us have pre cancerous areas that are too numerous to freeze.
The years of playing Barbies and jump rope outside from breakfast to dinner have caught up with me…
@Marian my Dr freezes too. I’ve also had Mohs surgery. Thank you to my dear Irish ancestors.The cream is for areas where there are a lot of precancerous lesions.
Thank you to all who replied. I’m looking at my calendar and shooting for starting the cream on the 1st. I’m a little less scared of the pain.
I have used Carac a few times on my entire face and another time on my entire chest, and then I think on spots on both face and chest. As commented above, my entire face peeled off, but really only the second week. It was painful and somewhat strange to have all the skin peel off my face, except for the bridge of my nose where my prescription sunglasses sat. The redness is VERY obvious (those Irish ancestors again). Do not plan to be photographed during the second week of treatment and at least a week after completing treatment. The pain was greatest in the shower.
I have used it each time for 14 days but I think when I went to see the Dr out of desperation, she allowed me to stop at day 13. My doctor has used Carac almost preventively. Instead of burning or cutting something suspicious, she wants to clear everything off and then look at the skin maybe six to eight weeks later. (It has been a couple of years now.) I have not needed to have Mohs or any of those other things I hear about, and to be honest, I am surprised, so overall I think Carac has been worthwhile, but not something I look forward to.
$35 is a tremendous price, if you can actually get it for that price. My dermatologist gives me coupons whenever she can, but sometimes the coupon results in a discount but not to the printed price of the coupon. (Varies with underlying medical insurance plan.)
Side note: years of treatment for a stubborn wart on the bottom of my foot. The Dr suggested Carac (I had it anyway) and it finally eradicated the wart. So hold onto that tube of Carac as you never know when you made need it again.
Good luck!
@CT1417 - thanks. I’m glad it has worked so well. I will definitely keep the tube around. It arrived and it was $35. The dermatologist orders the script through a specific mail order pharmacy. I think if I took it to a local CVS or used the online pharmacy through my insurance it would be more. Cerac is a Valeant product and I know they have had several problems in the past with several of their drugs. Cerac was not on the formulary for my insurance but the Dr and pharmacy was able to get it covered.I used to get another Valeant product from a different mail order pharmacy and paid $35. That mail order pharmacy had problems and is no longer available. I now get that product Elidel from my local pharmacy with a $65 co pay.
D used Elidel for awhile. She was ambivalent about it. It was on our insurer’s formulary and our fern gave us some samples. 