ALDARA Reviews (IMIQUIMOD)Average Rating: 2.9 (856 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare ALDARA with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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More on ALDARA: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR ALDARA | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | sBCC | Had a mild headache and some sneezing at times but unsure if related to Aldara. | I want to share my experience as when I was offered Aldara for the first time, I read so many scary reviews, not that it didn't work but that there was an extreme reaction and flu symptoms. This had me worried especially as it was during the pandemic, so I opted for mohs on a superficial bcc on upper lip. It was one cut, but I have a scar from nose into cutaneous lip now, swollen lip on that side and constant feeling of pulling even over two years later. So when I had another small SBCC diagnosed on forehead and Aldara was offered again, I decided on that, especially as I talked to a second opinion derm and explained my concerns, he said you don't have to have an extreme reaction for it to work, you just want a reaction for at least a few weeks. He told me to keep in close contact with my derm and can alter things if there is an overreaction. This was the comfort and reassurance I needed. I never had an over reaction. For the first couple weeks, there was no reaction, then started having one that got stronger manly in the last two weeks of the 6 wk treatment, but nothing terrible at all. The doctor called it cleared a couple months later and I don't have any scar, feels completely normal there. | F | 53 | 6 weeks 5% 5X W | 3/2/2024 | 1 | Hpv | Do not recommend. Was prescribed for HPV in the anal area. The first day of application had flu like symptoms, fever and body aches. The following day the area quickly began to feel like scorched earth. It hurt to do anything to include walking or even farting. After several days the area began to feel better. The doctor recommended I give it a second try. Again same side effects, fever followed by excruciating pain burning irritation! I will not be giving it a third try. I'd rather be burned with a hot fireplace poker. | F | 45 | 2 weeks 5% 1X O | 12/28/2023 | 1 | Gw | Burning, red horrible sores, swollen labia, swollen vagina, headaches, insomnia, depression, weeping, can't walk, can't sit, crying, painful, itching, tingling, stinging | Had cryotherapy and it didn't do much, got prescribed this cream. Only used it 3 times and wish I never bothered. The amount of pain I'm in is unbareable. I can't even pick my 6 week old son up it's that painful. I Can't walk or wear trousers. It's the most pain I've ever been in, even worse than having my son. I can't see. My vagina looks absolutely battered. One wart has gone black and started to come off. But the rest on the inner labia on my right side hasn't made much of a difference to them really, in between my vagina and bum is swollen too. It looks absolutely dreadful. I darent tell anyone or mention it to my partner it's that embarrassing. Honestly the worst decision I ever made was to let them prescribe me this cream. Fully wouldn't recommend even tho it does seem to be killing the warts, it's not even worth the amount of agony and mental stress it's causing me. I Can't stop crying or researching how long the pain will last. I Can't sleep because of it, I can't even leave my house or walk around it, currently laid in bed with my legs open and the pain is awful. Had three baths with salt just to have a wee and also lathered myself in Sudo cream but that didnâS | F | 25 | 6 days 5% 3X O | 10/10/2023 | 2 | Basil cell cancers | Every day since day 1 , I get fluish like symptoms some body aches and it wakes me during the night, daytime I feel tired.. I have several areas, upper chest, thighs and lower leg | I'm hoping that after these 5 weeks, I see results In the meantime I hate the burning and redness, I've already had 8 moh's surgery that are very large, thankfully I have a great dermatologist that has done amazing work, specially to my face | F | 67 | 4 days 1X day | 4/4/2023 | 1 | BCC | I had a 5mm diameter BCC in the middle of my chest. Doc said surgery would leave a nasty scar in such a delicate area, so I opted for imiquimod cream, per his recommendation. I will never make that mistake again. I don't take pharmaceuticals and now I know why. I had terrible body aches in my upper and lower back, headaches every day upon waking and I don't suffer from these kinds of pains normally. I would also get nauseous and it caused diarrhea most mornings. After a few days of treatment, an area of about 2 inches in diameter of red, blistered skin appeared. I knew this was a sign that it was working, but the side effects just weren't worth it. By week 3, the skin was so raw and the painful body aches, headaches and diarrhea, I decided to stop treatment for a week. The skin calmed down and the side effects subsided during that week, but resumed as soon and I re-started treatment. I've had to take acetaminophen to manage the body aches, and I'm not a fan of taking any over the counters. I just applied my last dose of this poison tonight and I'm looking forward to not feeling like garbage each day. I'm never using this stuff again. I don't care what kind of scar a future BCC might cause…I'm opting for the knife! | F | 45 | 6 weeks 1X day | 1/19/2023 | 1 | Hpv | I applied the cream around the edge of the vigina but rhe warts cleared up but after somehow it managed to on the clitoris and burnt it so badly that i had to take a course of antibotics. I put the cream last night and the clitoris felt sore this morning. | Im taking a break for one week to stop the soreness and will try again next week. | F | 60 | 3 days 250g 1X W | 10/31/2022 | 3 | Genital warts | Inflammation, blisters/ulcers | I started using this cream because cryotherapy wasn't working out in completely removing my wart located at the neck of the penis glans. First two days I noticed a bit of redness at the site applied and did not think of it much at the time. I skipped a day then was going to apply it on the 4th day. To my shock, I saw ulceration at the site so I discontinued using it. I have approached my doctor today about this and he recommended the same thing. Recommendation: Do not apply the 5% daily. There is a reason why it says apply on alternate days. My skin and wart came back after 5 days of a cryotherapy session but it is expected I have to wait 4 weeks for my skin to heal from Aldara. I hope my wart is gone for good this time around. | M | 32 | 3 days 5% 1X day | 10/26/2022 | 5 | Bcc | This has been a miracle drug for me in that it has saved me many surgeries so far which would have been a thousand times worse ; I the process of inflammation shows it's working ;; ! I personally stop the process when the inflammation comes until it calms a bit so I don't get open wounds ; I thiiink that the symptoms broadly reported here show the systemic involvement that I would guess happens when the drug hits the bloodstream without the skin barrier … ; I do think I very was tired on some of my larger ones but so far my skin healed perfectly & I am grateful! | F | 50 | 30 days Sachet/day 1X AN | 9/5/2022 | 1 | BCC | I stopped applying the cream on my neck after five days because it turned into an open weeping scabby sore which has not cleared up a week later | I will not be completing this course of treatment and would prefer to have surgery to remove the area | F | 56 | 4 days 2X day | 8/3/2022 | 1 | GW | I used the aggressive approach by applying it 5 days in a week and resting for 2 days...i got sores and blisters but kept using it for 3 months...at the end of it all my warts kept on increasing in numbers ... | Stopped using it...was prescribed TCA by the doctor which cleared my warts in one month | F | 30 | 3 months 5X W | 10/9/2021 | 1 | BCC | I developed Sjogrens | Toxic. Should be taken off market. | F | 66 | 4 weeks 30mg 1X day | 6/13/2021 | 4 | Genital Warts | Have warts around my anus, initially had them frozen off a couple of times but they just returned in numbers. Started with Imiquimod (Aldara) 3 times a week, the doctor told me to apply using my finger and that I could use one sachet twice. After the 3rd application the pain had increased with dry, cracking skin, itchiness. I can’t use any kind of soap on the area as the pain is intense so I just wash with warm water. The other side effects are the flu symptoms, exactly 11 hours after applying the cream I start with headaches, muscle pain, pressure behind the eyes and extreme tiredness but ibuprofen seems to help. The warts are decreasing in size after 3 weeks and I’ve learnt that applying with a qtip just a tiny amount on each wart is much better. | Less is more!!! Only apply to the warts themselves, this cream is a form of chemotherapy so use sparingly. Using camomile lotion the day after the treatment helps with the itching. | M | 20 days 3X W | 4/22/2021 | 1 | Basal cell cancer | Very fun blisters all over my face, vomiting and tiredness after first week joint pain which now is long term possibility an immune response issue which is what this medicine is supposed to do on the skin level only...that doesn't even sound logical now looking back | Really at wits end with joint pain and nothing anyone can find wrong... nothing dietary or herbal has helped... pain is unbearable... oh yea... over 10 years after using but began at that time ... extremely healthy, organic diet exercise good weight... doctors are stumped.... | F | 43 | 6 weeks 15mg 1X day | 4/13/2021 | 1 | BCC | Severe headaches, nausea and dizzy spells. | Already used this previous and was not keen to use again, but the consultant said it was the best way to treat the BCC on my chest. Within days sores appeared, weeping , crusting, then the headaches,nausea and dizzy spells, reported this and was advised to come of it for 12 weeks to allow the area to repair, I will never use this horrendous cream again, I’d rather be left with scars from surgically removal. | F | 57 | 4 weeks 5mg 1X day | 3/12/2021 | 5 | Genital and Anal warts | This cream works , it just needs one to be very patient and above all strong . I've had genital and anal warts for six months and the doctor I was using kept on giving me different medication that didn't work . I changed my doctor and he prescribed Aldara . Week one was a walk in the park , things started heating up on week 2 then I stopped using for a few days and I continued . I'm on week 4 now and I can see the difference. The pain gets too much at times but it's really saving my sex life . | M | 30 | 4 weeks 3X day | 12/12/2020 | 2 | HPV | It caused me to breakout in a rash all over my body, I also found that I was tired a lot more than usual. | I broke out in a full body rash after using this for my HPV. I've had warts for 4 years hoping they'd go away but they didn't. I've been using Aldara for 2 months now and I have seen no improvement. I'm going to go back to my gyno to see if I can switch treatments. I was also reading up on this medication and I see where it's used to treat skin cancers, I'm not sure how true it is but I'm really scared to continue using this. Will update if I get another treatment and also if it works. | F | 24 | 38 days 1 3X W | 11/15/2020 | 1 | Genital Warts - HPV | See below | I got prescribed Aldara by my local sexual health clinic to treat genital warts caused by HPV. I thought my warts were the end of the world, until I used this cream. The nurse said it would cause some redness around the area and that it may be a *little* bit sore. After applying the cream twice (as directed, only on the warts and every other night, washing it off in the morning) boy did I regret my life choices. My entire vagina swelled up the following day, and ulcer type sores appeared EVERYWHERE in that area. I couldnt move without being in excruciating pain, and every time I needed to pee, i almost passed out from the pain. I ended up in hospital, on a 7 day course of antibiotics - two tablets 4x daily, as well as dihydracodine to manage the pain. STAY AWAY FROM THIS CREAM - it should not be prescribed!!! After doing extensive reading online about Aldara, I quickly realised that so many people had been through the same as me. The warts eventually go away on their own, or there are other treatments such as freezing them off. Please please please stay away from this cream. | F | 21 | 2 days 30mg 2X W | 10/26/2020 | 1 | Skin cancer | Infection. Open sores, med got into bloodstream. Dr. Did not monitor me. Now have Sjorgren syndrome. | My dermatologist over prescribed Aldara. She was not educated in the serious side effects. | F | 68 | 2 months 5X W | 10/22/2020 | 1 | Bcc | Flu like symptoms. Severe skin reaction. Thought I would lose my arm. | Wish I had never used it | F | 60 | 6 weeks Not sure 2X day | 10/22/2020 | 5 | GW | The first week was extremely painful, but it only took that first week for my GW to clear up, Although I only had 4 around my rectum and they were rather small. But after that first week and the warts disappearing and some time to heal from that, there is no longer any pain/burning and only slight itching/irritation that is almost un noticeable majority of the time. It has been 2 months and no more have showed up | Very pleased with the results of this cream, with how fast it removed them and have not had any new ones appear. It can be painful but I feel it is worth going through some pain to deal with something like this. | M | 20 | 2 months 1X day | 10/18/2020 |
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)