ALDARA Reviews (IMIQUIMOD)

Average Rating: 2.9 (856 Ratings)

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 DERMATOLOGICS

 Type: Rx Drug

  

ALDARA  (IMIQUIMOD):  This medication is used to treat certain types of growths on the skin. These are precancerous growths (actinic keratoses), a certain type of skin cancer (superficial basal cell carcinoma), and warts on the outside of the genitals/anus. Treating these conditions can decrease complications from them. Imiquimod belongs to a group of drugs called immune response modifiers. It is believed to work by helping to activate your immune system to fight these abnormal skin growths. This product is not recommended for use on children under 12 years of age unless specifically directed by your doctor.   FDA Approval Date: 1997-02-27 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)

  

Results are sorted by Gender males first.

Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.)
5=HIGH (this medicine cured me or helped me a great deal.)

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RATING  REASONSIDE EFFECTS FOR ALDARACOMMENTSSEXAGEDURATION/
DOSAGE
DATE ADDED
 
 5  Basal Cell Carcenoma Slight Flu like symptoms. Tiredness. Red swollen lesions on area. This is the 6th BCC I have treated this way. No problems other than minor side effects. M 46 6 weeks
1X day
10/5/2010
 5  Superficial BCC on temple No real side effects apart from expected scab formation. The scab was formed within 1 week and fell off a week later. Skin is smooth and pink underneath and I will be interested in how this develops over the next week or so. As someone who has had 5 surgical procedures on face and neck for BCCs this drug appears to have saved me from having further surgery.At the moment it seems to have been excellent. M 65 10 days
2X day
3/10/2011
 5  BCC BCC on the front of my face on the cheekbone. Treatment was for a small scaly section but that failed to react but about 1/2 inch further down my skin reacted with a red blotch about 5/8 of an inch in diameter. At the 5 week mark of treatment it had turned into an ugly red crust. Side effects: really none for the first 5 weeks but for the last week or so I have been fatigued. Also ocasionally I suffer slightly from shingles (no lesions) down the back of my right thigh and buttock; the Aldara may have triggered an attack, hard to say it was the cause but certainly possible. My face is now in the healing phase and is looking good. Would I use it again? Absolutely, as surgery is costly and leaves a scar. I sympathise with those who have had a negative experience, not every therapy is good for all. M 56 6 weeks
6X W
3/14/2011
 5  Basal cell carcinoma No major side effects. Initial mild cold for 2 days and occasional tiredness from time to time - not significant. Previously I felt pretty awful using 30 mg of Aldara per day to get rid of large BCCs. This time around I have 3 smaller areas to cure - while they have become red and crusted or open wounds, they will heal and I feel fine. Still running 20 - 30 minutes every day and keeping fit. I prefer using Aldara to burning BCCs with nitrogen as I find that 2 years after burn off they return. 25 MG packet lasts me 3 days - use small amounts. M 49 30 days
25 1X day
11/13/2011
 5  BCC Please study the medicine you are taking before using it IMPROPERLY and complaining about the side affects. I will explain many of the side affects of this medicine. It is known that imiquimod activates a potent immune response through the toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7), which causes and increase in cytokines (primarily interferon) natural killer cells, macrophages and B-lymphocytes. If you get canker like sores or major flu symptoms then it is a CLEAR sign that you are using WAY TOO MUCH cream. Use the MINIMAL amount possible to get the result you need. Be patient and after several weeks increase the dose if needed. In this case more cream DOES not equal a faster or better result. Please don’t listen to me, ask your doctor, do your own research and be logical. After doing some basic research on wiki and pubmed I found this 1) Aldara causes a potent immune response, increasing interferons. It is normal for the human body to have symptoms such as aching muscles and fever related to the production of IFNs during infection. E.G. The Flu virus. Interferon (IFN)-alpha is known for causing high rates of depression and fatigue which makes sense because if you are sick your body is using energy to mount an immune response and telling you to stay in bed and rest. 2) You will see Imiquimod has a strong anti-proliferative effect. This means it inhibits cell growth which is good for cancer but is an obvious explanation for all these canker like sores people are seeing. If you use FAR TOO MUCH cream then you will get massive antiproliferative effects and cell death, large dead areas of cells on the skin will give you sores. 3) People spoke about Aldara messing with your immune system, I have no proof but this seems totally plausible because if you use too much Aldara on your skin it gets into your blood stream it will cause a potent increase of interferons in the blood which will affect your immune system in some way. It is plausible for example if you have if you have leaky gut syndrome, this increase interferon will cause antigens to be produced against all the undigested foods in your blood. These proteins are similar to those found in human tissues so autoimmune problems could develop. M 37 2 months
25mg 1X W
9/28/2012
 5  Genital Warts after using the cream I became very sore and then started to bleed, I think this is because I used too much and spread it about.!! follow the instructions and be patient If you use this sparingly and rest when it gets too sore its seems to work, I am delighted as I am now clear in less than 3 weeks. M 45 2 weeks
1X day
5/21/2013
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 5  Plantar warts No side effects at all. I had plantar warts forming a mosaic on one of my toes for 5 years. Nothing would work until my doctor prescribed me Aldara. I've been using it for 5 months and now I can say my warts have disappeared. I didn't notice anything during the first 3 months. Actually some new small warts kept growing during treatment. It was not until the 4th month that I noticed some changes. My treatment consisted on applying Aldara each night (I didn't wash it off as indicated). I also had each day one pill of Vitamin A (10.000 u) on the 2nd and 4th month. It had an incredible effect on my skin! Everyday, I also scraped off all dead skin on my warts with sandpaper to let Aldara reach my inner skin. Now my warts are almost gone!! Hope this helps someone! M 33 5 months
8/31/2005
 5  warts i have one huge wart that is decreasing, but more other lil warts came out, and i called my doctor, and they said that its normal that more come out because aldara trys to stop warts for life, and its a good sign that its all coming out at once, and use it every other day....i have about 25 more days left!!! email me M 19 8 days
9/8/2006
 5  HPV tenderness, itching, incredible soreness 3 times a week. I had a few bumps that had not yet turned into peranial warts. They were gone in about two weeks. By that second week, I was almost ready to give up on taking it from the discomfort. It totally works however and I must say it was worth it. Luckily, I got treatment before it was too bad. M 23 2 weeks
9/16/2006
 5  genital wart - balls warts on my balls. itching, and burning. seems like more is coming..but i have one huge wart that is not going awway for sure..can someone email around my age and male. i need someoen to talk about this problem...but its only been a week and my doc told me to apply for a month. M 19 1 weeks
9/7/2006
 5  HPV/Anal Warts Slight redness Passed through my first week and I haven't noticed a single side effect. The warts have been visibly reduced in size and I seem to be having a much nicer go at it than many of the people here. I'll update if things change but, for now, the product is working excellently with no real side effects I've noticed. M 22 9 days
8/31/2006
 5  superficial basal cell carcinoma Redness, itching and scabs formed after the first week. I found theat once the scabs formed it was best to stop applying the Aldara and to soak the area then rub lightly with a wash rag and the dead skin rubs right off like a sun burn. Once the area clears up start another round of 4 to 5 days of treatment, again stop when the scabs form. I have been using Aldara off and on for over a year on several areas of my face. After having surgery on 6 different locations on my face, it is great to have a non evasive cure. M 50 1 years
3/7/2006
 5  Basel Cell Carcinoma Knocked me down like a bad flu. Only applied for 2 weeks in lieu of 6 because of reactions to area treated and how I felt. It did cure cancer on my nose and ear saving me thousands of dollars and probably lots of scarring and restructuring of the skin affected. M 62 2 weeks
4/7/2006
Email
 5  Basel Cell Carcinoma Knocked me down like a bad flu. Only applied for 2 weeks in lieu of 6 because of reactions to area treated and how I felt. M 62 2 weeks
4/7/2006
Email
 5  GW Redness, Itching (especially when my immune system kicked in), a little bit of soreness Ive been using aldara for a month. One doc told me to apply 3X a week, but nothing was happening. I went and saw a real derm. (also friend ofthe fam) and he told me to take the aggressive approach of 5 nights on, 1 off. Worked great. basically, he said that what we are going for is irritation. For those of you who are getting no affects and no results, step it up. for those of you getting too many side affects, back off. Remember, everybodys body is different and will react differently, pay attention. as of now, they are almost gone. Here is a quick description ofthe healing process; w/application 5X a week, gws became red and irritated with slight itching after application.....after ~3 weeks of this they became a little harder and a little whiter. then itchiness increased and they became even harder...then, very itchy, a little sore, they kinda turn into a scabish type thing, but not because of a open sore, they just kinda turn scabby and shrivel from the inside out...then M 24 5 weeks
12/15/2006
 5  GW Redness, itchy, warts got weird looking white color, some pain on the bigger one or two SO it took about 2 weeks for it to start working about, some of the small ones just got red and went away, the bigger ones caused more irritation and pain but looks to be going away pretty fast...email me if you want more info I know I was scared as all hell before it started working...oh and email to tell me how long it took for your the redness to dissappear after stopping... M 24 3 weeks
12/16/2006
 5  Basal Cel Carcinoma-Gorlin Syndrome Redness, itchiness, clear discharge, scabbing, A redness which continued (but gradually went away months after using), occasional bleeding. Never had any flu-like symptoms (and dont believe they are related to Aldara). Because of genetic disorder (gorlin Syndrome) took for a long time (1 year) on differing parts of body....got swollen glands (under chin, by neck, and armpits) and am not sure if this part was do to the aldara---but I stopped applying and the swollen glands stopped a week or so later each time I have had numerous (100 plus) basal cell carcinomas. With the genetic disorder I hvae called Gorlin Syndrome and being fair complected, I wish I had discovered it earlier...before the multiple surguries and consequential scars on my face to have them removed. What it allows you to do is control when you apply it (and even when you can stop) and you can always go back to the area if all of the bcc was not gotten. I have used it both on superficial basal cells and with success on basal cells which were already lumps... The stuff works. The stuff avoids surgery....Its just a question of weather you can accept the redness, itching, scabbing, etc. I do not believe it when people say they have flu-like symptoms due to Aldara. I have never had those. Then again, maybe it affects people differently. M 37 1 years
12/24/2006
Email
 5   only put a 5 to be at the top... OUCH... red sore gross skin...OUCH baaaaaaaaaaaaad M 22 14 days
1/2/2007
 5  sBCC All: The most debilitating are the bodyaches and fatigue. I have been using a full packet 5xwk for the past 3 wks on a large area of my chest and stomach. Ibprofen helped some with reducing the bodyaches. Now I'm trying Aleve and it seems to be helping more in curbing the flu symptoms. Still, two days out of the week find me sleeping all day due to fatique. I am cutting back on using the entire packet and will probably reduce it to half to see if the side affects can be reduced. I've used it three times over the past five years: on my cheek, jaw and chin with good results (my chin took two seperate treatments to resolve). In many cases of minor (early) diagnosis my doc likes to apply light cryosurgery followed with 1-2 wks of Aldara every-other-night. It seems to work -very, very limited scarring. Doc has found that many patients won't complete the more intense therapy so he tries this more limited approach. He says that it has worked well for some of his patients, especially the ones who would otherwise give up. Now, I'm trying the 6wk 5xwk therapy on my chest and am struggling with it since the area is fairly large and involved -80+ spots. Doc thinks a lot of what I see in rection is not sBCC, but AK and/or ohter more routine skin problesm like infected hair folicles. I'm headed into wk 4 of 6 and struggling not to quit as it is so mentally and physically taxing (depressing). I work 12 hour shifts in a uniform and it has been very hard to keep going. I w M 49 3 weeks
9/10/2006
 5  hpv mild itch, redness, warts became slightly inflammed ok first of all after reading all the posts i was freaked the hell out but i am glad i still underwent this treatment i have used it for a week now and have seen results the diameter of warts is shrinking and slowly its changing shape and disappearing as for all of you that bitch and moan about this drug....keep it to yourself and by the sounds of things i dont think you have hpv, probably herpes, judging by the intense burning sensation and peeling, and that burning when u pee...definatley a herpes symptom.. come on people M 19 8 days
9/15/2006
  

ALDARA  (IMIQUIMOD):  This medication is used to treat certain types of growths on the skin. These are precancerous growths (actinic keratoses), a certain type of skin cancer (superficial basal cell carcinoma), and warts on the outside of the genitals/anus. Treating these conditions can decrease complications from them. Imiquimod belongs to a group of drugs called immune response modifiers. It is believed to work by helping to activate your immune system to fight these abnormal skin growths. This product is not recommended for use on children under 12 years of age unless specifically directed by your doctor.   FDA Approval Date: 1997-02-27 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)

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