Nixie - 12-1-2009 at 11:07
I have had some knuckle pads for around two years now, and the dermatologist said there is no effective treatment (knuckle pads are a keratodermal
thickening of the skin at finger joint positions without established cause). They're not disabling but uncomfortable and if I don't bite them or file
them down, they tend to grow further and eventually crack, which can be painful or bleeding.
I have read a recent paper about a promising treatment option using fluorouracil ( http://archderm.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/143/11/1458 ), but this is still too new and even if I convince the dermatologist to do it, there
is no way my medical coverage would pay for it, and there is no way I can afford it at this point or in the near future. Thus, I would like to
synthesize it, and I'm asking for help here as to how to go about that. I normally have access to only OTC substances, but with some effort and risk
might be able to acquire other reagents.
Ozonelabs - 12-1-2009 at 11:26
Perhaps this will be of some use to you:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~csps/JPPS10_2/8/final.pdf
Found with just a few moments using google. I shall consult with my lab partner on this synthesis to see whether we have immediately available the
required chemicals to conduct this procedure.
Ozonelabs
stoichiometric_steve - 12-1-2009 at 11:27
Put the effort into buying the real thing. Yet, the ingestion of the raw material would be a violation of certain laws i guess.
Nixie - 12-1-2009 at 13:30
Pardon? You do not ingest it--you put it in the affected skin area.
The only affordable I see is very low concentration cream. Assuming I can find an online pharmacy that will ship to Canada without prescription (and
I haven't yet), I'd still need a way to extract the substance from the cream, as the application described in the paper referenced is intralesional,
not topical.
Ozone, kindly let me know what you find out.