Greg Krehbiel

My experience with efudex

Efudex is a topical lotion that finds and kills pre-cancerous skin cells. When you have a small spot the dermatologist is concerned about, he usually blasts you with liquid nitrogen. But when it’s a larger area, you get efudex.

It was invented by a Dr. Dex and named by his patients.

Okay, I made that up.

Anyway, here’s what happened to me during my treatment. Captions are below the pictures.

This was the first day of treatment. Nothing happens for a while.

After a week, I looked like this.

After two weeks, it was getting pretty nasty and itchy.

Three weeks. Getting worse all the time.

Four weeks. At this point I should note that my doc said I was having a mild to moderate reaction to the treatment. So some people get it a lot worse than this.

After four weeks I stopped the efudex and started using hydrocordisone to calm down the irritation.

I had hoped things would clear faster than this. This is week five — one week after I stopped the efudex.

Six weeks. Still red, but not quite so sore and itchy.

By this point I didn’t need the hydrocortisone cream any more.

Eight weeks out, things are almost back to normal.

So, kids, wear your sunscreen and a hat. You need vitamin D, so get out in the sun, but keep your exposure regulated. Don’t get burned.