SUN DAMAGED SKIN
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A patient came into the office today with a copy of a 1/2 page article from
SELF Magazine entitled, "A New Treatment for Sun-Damaged Skin."  According 
to the article, Bruce Katz, MD, associate clinical professor at Columbia 
Univ. in New York, has developed a method of treating sun-damaged skin with 
a mixture of an alpha-hydroxy and 5-FU.  Katz is quoted as  saying, "The 
5-FU helps the AHA's work better and the AHA's dilute the adverse effects of 
the 5-FU."  According the article, the side effects of the 5-FU/AHA mixture 
is minimal - some dryness and redness.  "The entire process can be completed 
in six to eight 20-minute treatments."

1. Is anyone aware of this treatment regimen?
2. What is the AHA/5-FU formulation?

Joseph Yohn, MD
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I've been using a combination of retin-a cream 0.025% and 5% 5fu (equal
parts) bid to all non-facial skin with lots of ak's and or lots of
bce's...for over 18 years with excellent results...patients who've had 5 or
more bx proven bce's have, in many cases never developed another bce with a
15+ year follow up...in fact, most never develop another bce!...and the ak's
are completely history!...of course, it is, shall i say,  a 'brisk'
reaction, which patients hate...but are so happy with the results when its
finished...this was described in the jaad i think about 1994.

Steve Emmet
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