The skin cancer treatment you don’t want to try!

Here’s a drug that really lives up to its name: FU!

To be more precise, it’s called fluorouracil 5 percent, or 5-FU for short. But whatever you want to call it, it’s a horror show — and your doctor may present it to you as the latest and greatest way to prevent a recurrence of skin cancer.

Media headlines have proclaimed that “Cream may keep skin cancer from returning,” citing that the risk of a recurring squamous cell carcinoma dropped by 75 percent over a year.

Sounds pretty good… but only if you don’t know the whole story!

Before you take the bait, here’s what you need to know about protecting your face from both skin cancer and this high-risk way of preventing it.

More than skin deep
Can you imagine feeling as though you were being “boiled alive”?

Going by how some 5-FU users describe their reactions, that’s sure what it sounds like!

They report swelling of the hands and arms… red, flaky skin with blisters… “awful pain and burning”… and looking like “raw hamburger” or “Frankenstein.”

And that’s when it’s working!

The drug has been used to treat “pre-cancers” on the skin for some time. And it’s had some success in saving people from developing full-blown cases of cancer that necessitate far more invasive treatments — that is, if they can tolerate it!

But as a preventive measure in those who have a big chance of a skin cancer returning… well, that’s a different story.

Dr. Martin Weinstock, a professor of dermatology at Brown University in Providence, conducted a study on veterans, all guys in their 70s who had been previously diagnosed and treated for at least two basal or squamous cell carcinomas. That means the chances were good that the skin cancer would make a reappearance.

And it’s true that 5-FU did prevent a recurrence for some. But that “benefit” only lasted a year, and many of the participants paid a dear price for that extra time they bought.

Of 930 vets, 1 in 5 of those who used 5-FU had a “severe” adverse reaction — described as acute skin sensitivity, reddening, and crustiness. Plus that, 40 percent of those remaining also complained of side effects.

But this shouldn’t be a big surprise, as 5-FU has a long history of nasty side effects.

Also used as a chemo med, particularly for colon cancer, it can kill in just a single dose if a patient is deficient in a particular enzyme that the body uses to metabolize it. (There are tests available to check on levels of that enzyme, but unfortunately, they aren’t always done, and cancer patients don’t always know to ask for it.)

And patients aren’t the only ones for whom 5-FU can be deadly.

Last year, the FDA warned that it had been receiving reports of dogs dying after ingesting just a tiny bit of the drug. One pup that punctured a tube of the cream died several days later — despite being rushed to the veterinary hospital.

In fact, 5-FU is so toxic that the agency also warned that it can poison a cat or dog with just the amount left on an applicator or even the residue remaining on clothing or your skin, should your pet lick you.

If you’ve been treated for a basal or squamous cell skin cancer, I know that the last thing you want to hear is that it has come back. But there are less risky ways to keep that from happening.

Photodynamic, or light therapy, is one.

Typically used to treat “solar keratoses,” scaly bumps that turn up on areas of the body that get a lot of exposure to the sun, this “blue light” therapy can help prevent them from turning into squamous cell carcinomas.

Another alternative, called bromalin, comes from pineapple!

A study done in mice found that those given bromalin (which is derived mostly from the stems and is easily found in supplement form) had close to 70 percent fewer skin tumors. And for the ones that did develop tumors, they were over a third smaller than those found in the group that didn’t receive the bromalin.

If your dermatologist, however, just wants to practice by the book, perhaps it’s time to find another. And a good place to start your search is at the HSI database right here: hsionline.com/findadoc.

“Cream may prevent return of skin cancer, study says” HealthDay, January 5, 2018, UPI, upi.com