Being of the fair skinned set, my dermo suggested we try the blue light treatment, the skin cancer preventative. We both have already had some bouts with basal cell carcinoma.
We did it Saturday. Since avoiding the sun for 48 hours is recommended, we were pleased with the weather forecast for the weekend -- cloudy and rain. Unfortunately, the weather gods did not cooperate, sunny all day Saturday.
The whole process took about 2 hours. First, the nurse cleansed our faces and applied the special cream. We then had to wait 70 minutes for the stuff to soak in. After the alloted wait time my head was inserted into the blue light chamber for the required 16 minutes. The drug attaches itself only to the cell walls of damaged cells, leaving healthy cells alone. The blue light is the exact wavelength of blue to activate the drug.
I was warned in the literature that some people feel some itching or tingling, and may get hot. i was not, however, anticipating the degree of discomfort.
The first minute or so was fine. Then I felt some minor irritiation on my nose and forehead. The irritation quickly became uncomfortable, then rapidly progressed to PAIN!.
A short 16 minutes seemed like an eternity. I just gritted it out and accepted it as for my own good.After the treatment the nurse cleaned up our faces and applied some sunscreen. We were given a goody bag with some more sunscreen and lotions.
The ideal post treatment is to go straight home, close the curtains, and leave the lights off. Basically cave up for two days as you are highly photosensitive. We however had some additional shopping and errands to run (we drove 1.5 hours just to get to Chico, so we were not going to waste a trip). So we trotted through Walmart and the mall in our floppy wide brim hats and high collars, getting funny looks from people. At one point I removed my hat indoors, and instantly felt the impact of the fluorescent lights. It began to hurt again. Hat back on.
It was dark when we finally drove back up the hill to home. Washed our faces again with the special cleanser they gave us, and applied a cortisone cream for the residual irritation.
Sunday morning we both looked like we spent a hard week at the beach with red splotchy spots. We accept this, as the red spots are where the pre-cancerous damaged skin cells were killed. Spent all day Sunday caved up with lights off and curtains closed. I was still sensitive to the light from a single lamp while reading the paper.
I still look like hell while writing this, but feel fine. Haven't needed an ibuprofen or cortisone cream all afternoon.
My wife is questioning whether she will ever go through this again. If my results are good I probably will in a few years. My insurance is paying for it, and although a major inconvenience and painful, it is beneficial in the long run.