Having recently experienced another recurrence of skin cancer, my Dermatologist suggested I try the new anti-skin cancer drug Zyclara. Zyclara causes the auto-immune system to attack pre-cancerous lesions under the skin and may reduce or future outbreaks. It's a topical cream that is applied to the skin for 14 days, then a 14 day break and then another 14 day treatment. Sounds easy enough.
Many new drugs have some crazy side-effects, Zyclara has some side effects, but what you really need to respect are the direct effects. The primary direct effect is the eruption of itchy, scratchy, inflamed, puss-filled sores. It got so bad at the end of the first week I started to worry that I was allergic to it -- the symptoms of allergy ARE "swelling, redness and rash". I Googled "Zyclara" and after looked at the images I realized that my experience was pretty typical. At the end of the first treatment I had over a dozen scabs and sores on my face, under my eyebrows and along my hairline. I was a mess.
The sores healed quickly after the first treatment and after the 2-week break I only had a couple of light pink patches to remind me of the worst sores.
The second 14-day treatment was a little easier but I still broke out pretty bad. This time the sores were on my cheeks and jaw line and were generally smaller and less agressive that the first session.
My second session ended 2 days ago and my face is now starting to heal. I had planned to add pictures of my face taken during treatment but after uploading them I've decided they are a little too gross and deleted them.
4 comments:
Thanks for posting this. Gives me the guts to press on with my second week of treatment.
Good. So now a couple of months later everything is healed and my skin looks much better. I'm not sure the treatment will prevent cancer in the future, but after the treatment areas of sun-damaged are much reduced and my skin is much smoother.
I just finished my first 2 weeks of treatment a couple of days ago, and my skin's response was far more radical than I had anticipated. The most annoying were the sores that came up on my lips, extremely painful. I experienced the extreme fatigue, and I would almost say a state of depression. I'm glad to hear that the 2nd two weeks of treatment are typically not as sever - I'm just enjoying my 2 weeks off right now.
A year after having skin cancer on my nose removed, noticed a small spot reappearing. Derm prescribed Zyclara. Did the treatment which wasn't pleasant but my nose looks great. Now doing 2 wks only on sun damage areas of my face. Not pretty but if it prevents cancer, I'm ok. Also experienced fatigue & the "blahs". If you can tolerate side effects, it's worth the trouble.
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