Regencorr AK / Scc concerns

Hi. I think you should have had a biopsy, and you would have finally calmed down and not thought about whether the keratosis had turned into cancer or not. My dermatologist once explained to me that if in actinic keratoses there are suddenly places where too much dense scab accumulates on the skin, or on the contrary, no healing ulcers are formed, this can indicate a change to skin cancer.  How are you doing with your treatment? Have the keratolytics helped? 

Hi darr. I had 4 small BCCs removed two years ago. There is a small keratoacanthoma, near the eyelid, which I have not decided to remove and am now treating with regencorr cream. I apply the cream to the areas where the bcc's were removed for preventative purposes, on all treated skin areas. I have a question about keratoacanthoma, it is also covered with dense keratin, I apply cream only on the edges. I think it is useless to put cream on top of it, it is not absorbed at all. I'm trying to understand what you mean by "...the occlusive method of applying cream under the plaster or bandage"? How do you do that? Do I need some kind of special patch and some other way of applying the cream?

Hi Bredkam. I thought about it and decided not only to use a keratolytic, but both of the methods recommended by darr. For five days, I applied a lotion with a high percentage of lactic acid and put a plaster on top for a few hours. I can say that the keratolytic helped, but I still couldn't use it for more than five days because the skin started to burn. The flaking has reduced and most of the scab has gone away. The effect is good. I am now treating the underlying areas of actinic keratosis with regencorr only. The scab is really slowing down the treatment, a lot. If I had known this was going to happen, I would have removed some of the flaking with a keratolytic first before starting AK treatment using regencorr. The high concentration of lactic acid in the lotion is 20-25%, for me it was excessive and painful. It would probably be better to begin with a medium concentration, as it will burn and irritate the skin less and will last longer. 

about the biopsy, you're a thousand times right. I should have had one, I would have slept for a month. But now it's not relevant, because my chest and forehead are almost clean, I have almost cured AK, so I decided to make sure and prolong the regencorr application for an extra week, and I will prolong the prophylactic as well.

It's easy. You apply the cream to the problem area, where for example there is a lot of scab and tape it tightly, but before you do that you have to remove the central fabric pad from the patch, otherwise it will absorb most of the cream, not the skin. After that, do not remove the patch for five hours. Regencorr thus penetrates the skin better and effects stronger. In your case, maybe you should apply the cream and plaster at night, before going to bed, and in the morning to clean the skin with gauze napkins. Use soap and water to cleanse, too, otherwise it will be difficult to clean the skin from the used cream and scab. In my opinion, this method of applying cream under the patch can be very useful only at the beginning of treatment, and after that you can switch to the usual way of applying it to the skin. Try keratolytics too, although I don't think you need them.

I hoped that after applying the cream for seven days, the keratinous outgrowth would fall off on its own, but it didn't. I have now paused so as not to waste the cream. Here's the thing, my wife had a small skin horn on her chest. she applied regencorr on that skin lump and after about four days her keratinous outgrowth fell off by itself, and after about 8 days the red lump on the skin from which that keratinous outgrowth was growing disappeared.  I do not have such a quick reaction. The keratoacanthoma was a little inflamed and reduced in diameter but after a week, the thick crust still hadn't fallen off. I have a constant problem with patches. The problem is that I'm also allergic, and on about 3-4 days of applying most patches, I get streaks of inflammation on the skin and severe itching. I'll think of something else to do instead of the patch. How often and for how long have you had to use this method of applying cream?  Till the skin is clear? How do I know that I can switch to the normal application of the cream as recommended in the instructions?

You don't have to make anything up. If you're allergic to adhesive patches, it's easy to replace them. I sometimes did this: I took a thin cellophane package or food wrap film and cut it into circles or ovals, small, the right size. For example, my right hand was visibly affected by actinic keratosis. I applied cream to the hand, and then glued the cut out film on top, fixing it to the skin around the edges with tape or plaster.  In your case, I think you can just stick cellophane on top of the cream and moisten the edges slightly with water, so that it sticks to the skin. The thinner the cellophane, the better it adheres to the skin. This option to use five days in a row, and then change to the normal method of applying the cream. This method is discussed and used in many communities, but most often those who have basal cell tumors. You want to get results too quickly but- it doesn't work that way.    

Thank you very much for the advice, I will do so. I was hoping to get the keratoacanthoma treated before Christmas, but unfortunately I didn't. The duration of treatment is not entirely clear either. If you look at the application instruction, there is a course of treatment that is the same for keratoacanthoma, A keratosis and cutaneous horn. The instructions state a treatment duration of 2 months with a transition to prophylactic use. But this probably refers to actinic keratoses.  My understanding is that the instructions allow for both longer and shorter treatment durations. I think that if it were not for the keratinous outgrowth in the center of the tumor, I would have reached the result of the treatment long ago.

What makes you think that keratoacanthoma is a simpler skin lesion than actinic keratosis? You should read what doctors write in research articles. Most of them write that AK, keratoa-ma and cutaneous horn are links of the same pathological process but with different manifestations. And the doctors just write about keratoacanthoma and cutaneous horn that these pathologies should be treated with special attention and that they more often and more quickly develop into squamous cell cancer than actinic keratosis. After the removal of bcc, have you been using regencorr for all of two years to prevent recurrence? Or have you only recently started using it?

No, I've been using regencorr on the scars prophylactically only for the last few weeks. I have read several articles about keratoacanthoma, and one of them contains something that alarmed me, above all the words that sometimes keratoacanthoma histologically does not differ from squamous cell skin cancer at all. Maybe I will go through the whole course of treatment and I will not reduce the treatment.

I have a change, yesterday a keratinous outgrowth fell away from the tumor. There is a dimple in the center of the tumor. I noticed a big difference, between applying the cream normally and under the cellophane film. Should I then continue to use cream under the film and extend it to 10 days, or maybe the whole month in this way to apply the cream?

But why, I think it would be acceptable to shorten by two weeks the second stage of treatment, the main thing is to have the tumor completely cured by the fourth or fifth week. For example, it took me the longest to treat my hand. The main reason was that there was a scab on my hand. And until I realized that the cream absorbs very badly through the scab and how to deal with it, I lost a lot of time, and treatment was delayed. The AK on my nose and ear, however, healed quickly, in about five weeks. But, considering that on my ear and nose, the lesions were not significant and there wasn't much of a scab. If I had used the cream on my nose right at the beginning of the treatment, under a patch or film, it would have taken me even less time to heal.  I think you should use the cream that way for at least a couple of weeks.