For Aldara Users

How to Use Aldara Cream

Use Aldara Cream exactly as prescribed by your doctor or healthcare provider. Aldara Cream is for skin use only. Do not take by mouth or use in or near your eyes, lips, or nostrils. Talk with your doctor or other healthcare provider if you have any questions.

Use Aldara Cream only on the area of your body to be treated or as instructed by your doctor or healthcare provider. The area should be no larger than approximately the size of your forehead or cheek (2 inches by 2 inches). Do not use Aldara Cream longer than prescribed. Using too much Aldara Cream, or using it too often, or for too long, can increase your chances for having a severe skin reaction or other side effect. Talk with your doctor or healthcare provider if Aldara Cream does not work for you.

For AK, Aldara Cream is used once a day for 2 days a week, 3 to 4 days apart. Aldara Cream is left on the skin for about 8 hours and then washed off. Treatment should continue for the full 16 weeks even if all actinic keratoses appear to be gone, unless you are told otherwise by your doctor or healthcare provider. The treatment period should not extend beyond 16 weeks due to missed doses or rest periods.

How to Apply Aldara Cream

  • Aldara Cream should be applied just before your bedtime
  • Wash the area to be treated with mild soap and water. Allow the area to dry
  • Open a new packet of Aldara Cream and apply a thin layer of Aldara Cream only to the affected area or areas to be treated. Do not use more Aldara Cream than is needed to cover the treatment area
  • Do not get Aldara Cream in your eyes
  • Do not cover the treated area with an airtight bandage
  • Safely throw away the open packet of Aldara Cream so that children and pets cannot get it. The open packet should be thrown away even if all the Aldara Cream was not completely used
  • After applying Aldara Cream, wash your hands well
  • Leave the cream on the affected area for about 8 hours, then wash it off
  • If you get Aldara Cream in your mouth or in your eyes, rinse well with water right away
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Aldara Cream is a skin-use only (topical) prescription medicine used to treat certain types of actinic keratosis on the face and scalp of adults with normal immune systems.

Safety Information:

When using Aldara Cream, the most common side effects involve skin reactions in the application area. These include redness, swelling, a sore, blisters, or ulcers, skin that becomes hard or thickened, skin peeling, scabbing and crusting, itching, burning, and changes in skin color that do not always go away.

When using Aldara Cream for actinic keratosis and superficial basal cell carcinoma, exposure to sunlight (including sunlamps) should be avoided or minimized during use of Aldara Cream because of concern of heightened sunburn susceptibility. Patients should be warned to use protective clothing (hat) when using Aldara Cream.