I have a tiny patch of skin that does not tan when in the sun (on my nose) The doctor said it could be nothing although it feels a little dry. She recommended Carac as preventitive in case it was something that was going to evolve into something serious. She said if it turns red it had the potential to be skin cancer (but now will not) if it does nothing it didn't...this is confusing based on everything I am reading..on day 3 and no redness. Can someone confirm an accurate use for this medication for my purpose

I'm a 64 year old female. My youth was spent in the sun, as a camp counsulor, lifeguard ect. This is my 3rd year of using Carac. Believe me it is painfull. Each year is a little better than before, so now just 50% of my face is pealing and scabbing over, and each year I ask myself why am I doing this again. I guess I don't like the alternatives. I'm now on day 16 of 30 and the only thing I find soothing is after a few hour to put a little (very litte) vaseline on my face.

It takes a few days for the redness to appear. When it does, you will not mistake it for anything else. At 2 weeks, it should be scaling, etc. If not, I would guess it is not a problem - I am NOT an MD!!!

I'm only on day 5 and my face looks like I had a fight with a blow torch and lost. The pain is like a 2nd degree burn, but at least if you had a burn the medicine man would give you some pain drugs! I've discovered that many use Aquaphor to help with the burning and itching, and it does provide some relief. What I'm really surprised about is how much activity there is. When I looked at my face even in very bright light, I knew there was a great deal of AK activity, but I think if a few days all my spots will turn into one great big one that goes from the middle of my cheeks on each side all the way up across my forhead. I guess the worst part for me is that I'm a minister and am in front of 600 people every Sunday . . . and this is a serious distraction. Also, I timed it wrong because I'll finish the treatments just in time for Easter, which means I won't be healed yet. I'll have to figure out how to work that in the Easter message of resurrection hope!

just started day 2...wish I hadn't found this sight. You're all scaring the crap out of me. Anyway, I see most arte using it on their faces. My doc has me using it on my forearms. Anyone else using or have used it there?

im a 49 year old male, second time around with carac, lots of good facts here,if light skined you should try carac, if your over 40 . most will have precancer to some degree. when you locate the red spots after the frist week , keep using for as long as you can take it maybe up to 35 days!.. kill it first time so youll be done! surgey is way worse!! after sufering like we all did, the results are outstanding! new skin minus some wrinkels!! hang in there, Its is really misserable!,

I appreciate everyone post. It helped me a lot. I finished my 21 day treatment a week ago. The last week was brutal but these 2 things helped me through. One - a very soft pillowcase. I had no problem sleeping and I know it was the pillowcase (and Motrin). Two - Aquaphor. I was shiny 22 hours a day but it did help.
After the 21 days, the doctor gave me Desonide ointment .05 to use twice a day for 10 days. After the 1st day there was a big improvement in the color. After 7 days my face is dry and peeling in a couple of places but the color is pretty close to normal.
Hope this helps.

I started Carac treatment once a day on my arms (below elbows) and tops of hands. Nothing happened the first week and I wondered when it would start working. The second week it started getting red and swollen especially on the right arm. By the third week, it was very irratated and swelling and red and scabs were forming. It became painful and taking a shower made it more red and irratated. I washed my hair in Selsum Blue shampoo and I think that made it even worse (perhaps an interaction with Carac and salicylic acid in the shampoo?) I won't do that again. It really burned and got a lot more irratated and swollen. I kept putting it on until day 25 when I just felt it was getting more irratated each time I put it on and it was hurting. I did not have that many rough spots (barnacles I call them) on my hands and arms and I thought the cure was worse than the problems spots since only about 2% of them ever turn into cancer. Anyway, it is getting close to summer here in Florida and I can't wear long sleeves much longer so I have to stop this treatment and try to get my arms presentable enough to wear short sleaves for all the upcoming events I have to attend such as weddings, retirements, spring the blues festival, etc. I will definately be putting my sunscrean on my lower arms and tops of hand from now on. Fortunately my face, back, and chest and the rest of my body is in good shape because I do use sunscreen and moisturizer on my face. I just forgot that my lower arms and hands are in the sun all year long but will now remember to protect thems too.

I'm a 49 yr. old male, fair-skinned, grew up surfing in Fla. and I did the Carac treatment about 1.5 yrs. ago. My experience was not nearly as bad as some posters have described. True, the first week is no big deal, second week brings out the redness and the third week is when you might get reclusive but I didn't have any of the pain, swelling, nausea, etc. that others experienced. Carlshotmail's dermatologist, like mine, recommended laying off it for a day if the skin becomes too sensitive, and that seemed to keep the treatment manageable w/out the any nasty side-effects. Also, my dermy had me use Neutrogena Derma Plus (I think that's the name) after washing to rehydrate, and/or a mild hydrocortisone cream on areas that became very inflamed. It was all good and I healed fairly quickly. I'll be starting my second treatment soon.

I will be 80 in June of 09. I used Carac 3 yrs. ago for 3 wks and after healing my skin was clear. I took my hat off again when my covered head got very hot. Now I have completed 21 days using Carac on my forehead and bald head. My wife put the cream on my nose, forehead and the part where the brains are. She soaked my pillow case every day to get the blood spots out. I only have 6 or 7 hair on my head where there were about 15 blotches. I could not sleep one night so took a sleeping pill. I must have got up later and shaved the couple hair off the top of old baldy. The next morning when I got up I yelled out "where are my eyebrows?" Oops, the razor slipped. Hang in there folks...just do it. Dying from cancer is worse. I didn't use any lotion and put the cream on in the mornings, not at night. Washed before applying.

I had a dry scaley patch on the bridge of my nose and my dermatologist prescribed Carac. I am on day 17 and although my nose looks like I have a sunburn and is starting to peel, I have not experienced any major discomfort or side effects. Directions say to keep using it for 2 to 3 weeks until scale (whatever that is) and then stop. I wish I knew exactly what scale meant. I plan to keep it up until day 21 and then stop and let it heal.

Hello:

Growing up in Murray, UT, I was burned all summer long. Then lots of tanning booths out of college. I have basel and squamous cell carcenoma and loads of karatosis on face, shoulders back and chest since my early 30's.

My Carac Treatment:

I finished my four week treatment last week and am one week into the healing stage. The first two weeks were typical red spots, tryness noticable but managable. The second two weeks were deep red spots, skin cracking and bleeding and lots of sluffing of the skin. I did cover up with some Este Lauder #3 coverup which did help some with little notice at work but the last week it was barly helping. It has been both painful and unsightly but in the end I expect we removed a good 80% of the karatosis. The healing phase has been slow, lots of sluffing of skin and the deep red spots are lingering. I still have bleeding but have been managing it. I know this is a very difficult process but just "buck-up" and do it. The alternative is skin cancer left unchecked that can ultimately do more damage.

Good luck and ciao!

I am on my second day of the cream, my derm told me to put it on 2 times a day for 2 weeks. Then I am to go back and he will put me under a light and whatever spots light up is cancer. He said this cream in intense, so far I haven't felt much, but from what I have read here it takes a couple days, so I am waiting! I hope this works and gets rid of my red spots and it is not cancer, no more tanning my face! Tanned the hell out of my face in the tanning beds since jr high. Learned my lesson too late.

I am a male, 48 years old, with fair skin, red hair, and blue eyes. Most of my skin damage was done in my youth as I did not begin to take serous sun exposure precautions until my mid to late 20's. I had three spots on my face removed with MOHS surgery earlier this year and am currently on day 17 of 30 with Carac. I am treating my entire head from the neck up. With my history I expected the worse as far as unsightly reactions. However, it has not been nearly as bad as I expected...I am even comfortable going about nearly all my normal social activities. I have developed some skin redness on my cheeks, some red spots on my forehead and temples...two small spots scabbed. I have had slight burning but nothing I would say is uncomfortable. I have no need to take any pain medicines, nor have I applied any moisturizers. I do shave my face(with shaving cream) and head every morning in the shower. As prescribed, I apply Carac about 10 to 15 minutes after the morning shower. Thus far I have not had to apply any sunscreen as I am completely dedicated to avoiding sun exposure during the treatment. I am not sure if my minimum skin reactions are due to the lack of AK's or zero sun exporsure thus far. I visit my dermatologist tomorrow for a treatment checkup. MY RECOMMENDATION FOR EVERYONE CONSIDERING CARAC: try it for yourself, do not let other folks experiences scare you away.

I am 54 years old, female who grew up in Huntington Beach (right on PCH) in Southern California. I went to the beach from ages 3-15 and all summer spent most of my time in the surf or on the beach getting burnt. I have been using the treatment for 30 days and my forehead, under my eyes and all over my upper chest is loaded with red sores that the cream is doing it's work on. Without doing this treatment, I am sure there were just too many pre cancerous spots for the dr's to help me with...so I am feeling blessed to even know about this treatment. Go for it!! A little buring and itching is so worth the alternative.
I am a realtor and have been able to meet with clients (with the help of bare mineral coverup powder). It still was noticable to them so I used my experience to educate my clients. Some of which are now going to their dr to ask about doing the same treatment. We are all examples to each other you know.
Hang in there.
Ex-HB surfer girl

I am on day 10 of the cream. And oh my gosh!! It took about 3-4 days to notice anything, but now my whole face has deep red spots and is scaling. I try to cover it up when I go out of the house but it is getting very difficult. I only have 3 more days of usage left before I go back to the doc. So I am trying to hang in there. The doc will then tell me if I have any cancerous spots. My face looks horrible, plus it itches, I can't beleive how many spots are coming out on my face. I will never again have sun on my face!! Hopefully these spots will go away after treatment.

I am a 72 year old male with a medium light complexion. I spent too much time in the sun as a child and have had to have a large number of precancerous spots removed over the years.

My dermotologist recommended that I use Carac Creme to try to remove a significant number of precancerous spots on my face, especially my forehead, that were too numerous to be frozen.

While using the Carac Creme, I had some redness and tenderness and some blotches from using the Carac but no other unpleasant side effects.

The redness and tenderness and the splotches showed up at about day six and they were not the prettiest thing to look at but I didn't get that many comments about how I looked. Happily, within two weeks of stopping the Carac, my face was completely normal again.

Using the Carac is not what I would call pleasant, but I did not find it to be nearly as bad as some of the other posters have reported. I put it on my face each night before going to bed.

I am still amazed at how smooth my facial skin now feels after the Carac treatment and I'm glad I did it, because I had considerable reservations about using it after reading a lot of the postings on this forum.

I was to use Carac for four weeks. I couldn't make it. First week was a piece of cake, second was bad and third was hell. Lasted 2 1/2 weeks. Haven't used it for five days now, and face is still red, bleeding, swollen, and "drawing up", that is, scabbing in such a way that it is pulling my face up, even pulling my mouth into a "grin". Heat makes it worse. It burns, itches, feels like fire ants are eating my face, throbs to the tune of my pulse, and peels. Anyone who says it is easy, isn't applying it twice a day.

Hello,

My dermatologist prescribed Carac for an a.k. on my chest. I read the side effects and got a little scared; particularly about hair loss! Has anyone experienced this?

I am fair-skinned 54-year-old female. I'm just finishing up a continuous 30-day treatment of Carac cream on my hands and forearms.

Like some who have posted, roughly around the second week I started noticing red areas that progressively got worse. I was so impressed with how many spots were showing with treatment to my arms and hands that I took it upon myself to treat the temple areas on my face - as a kind of self imposed experiemnt. My temples have several areas now that are red, peeling (and ocassionally bleed).

I go to the doctor tomorrow and will ask for additional RX's for my face. I was amazed at how many spots I had on my forearms and hands (over 50), so I KNOW my face must have precancerous lesions too, even though they may not be visible (like the ones I now see on my forearms and hands). I'm impressed with the product and thankful for it!

As far as side effects ... I have NOT had any swelling or redness, other than the specific spots. I have had mild headaches, mild stomach issues, and neck pain -- but I can't say for sure they were caused by the carac cream. True, the treated area isn't pretty to look at, there is a lot of dryness, and peeling, even some itching which I think may be associated with healing.

I am a very self-conscious person so I'm not looking forward to treating my face, but I know it is the right thing to do ...... if I have any doubts I only have to look at the numerous spots on my healing arms/hand/temples. It may not be a fun process, but it may well save my life.

If you and your doctor think you may have AK, try it for yourself; everyone reacts differently. Hang in there. Believe me, if I can handle it, I'll bet you can too.

Good luck, and take care.