For those of you that had Erbitux

Joe
Thanks for asking this question! We were wondering the same thing as this may be an option for my husband as well...

phrannie51 said:

I didn't have Erbitux....
but two of our most helpful posters did....Tim and Matt....I'm sure you'll be hearing from them soon...

p

I had erbitux
I had 8 weekly infusions of erbitux and I can tell you that in my case I got the acne type rash on my face chest and some areas of my back and my scalp. My oncologist told me this would most likely happen so he gave me a RX for doxycycline and at the first sign of the rash I took the meds. It helped to keep the rash under control. I also had another strange side effect but being a girl, I was happy with it....my eyelashes got really long and thick.
Wish that was a long lasting side effect but sadly it's not haha
I had heard that the worse the rash is the better the meds are working. When my rash didn't get terrible like some others did I began to panic & my dr said that is a huge misconception. Everyone reacts differently so if you hear that rumor, don't put a lot of thought into it.
Good luck to you and ask us if you have any more questions.
Billie

No Erbitux Problems BUT ...
No side effects from Erbitux at all. However, my first post treatment PET showed stuff in my lungs. Most probably lung cancer. So maybe the Erbitux rash would have been a good thing. Just add this to your information. Rick.

fingernails and toenails
like others, I had 1 loading dose and 7 regular doses.
the rash on forehead, nose, and torso was ugly ugly, but otherwise not a huge thing for me. your doc may give you some sort of steroid cream. it went away completely and fairly quickly.

the worst effect for moi was fingernail inflammation and infections.
the nails of both my middle fingers got pretty gruesome. started out as puffiness around the nail and little cracks in the skin... at first I thought it was dry skin, because it was two weeks after treatment ended and erbitux has a fairly short half-life. then wham--full-on infections.
took a boatload of antibiotics and more than a month to clear up. learned to do everything with three fingers and a thumb.

I had
Only one round of erbitux, but did break out in the acne like rash, had blackheads along my nose etc....kind of itched, used the cream they provided (clindamycin gel). I have the better part of an unused tube if I can be of assistance PM me your address and it will magigally appear....
Jim

Erbitux is not my friend..
I'm in my last week of treatment for tonsillar cancer with a neck mass (they removed my right tonsil before starting treatment), completing rad #32 of 35 today. I was given a large loading dose of Erbitux (also called Cetuximab) and then was to receive once a week follow up doses. The idea is that it enhances the radiation, not administered as chemotherapy on its own. Everything I read said that about 85% of people will react with some level of acneiform rash (looks like acne but is not acne) starting in about 7 to 14 days. Well, I started bursting out 2 days later, starting on my forehead, moving to the top of my head, and over the weeks moving down to my cheeks, nose, and entire upper chest and back. After about a week they prescribed doxycycline twice a day, which didn't stop the rash, but helped keep the acne like pustules in check a bit. I had such a powerful reaction that they agreed to skip several doses of the Erbitux, but we did resume at a slightly lower dose the last two weeks. I'll be honest - I dreaded getting the additional doses, knowing the potential for additional nasty rash, but so far any additional breakout has been very minimal and mostly limited to very sensitive and blotchy skin. I still have it all over my upper chest, but it never left that area. I also have a big nasty spot of it on my right neck, right over where my tumor is and where I get radiated every day. Interestingly, my left neck, which is not radiated, is perfectly clear. I'm guessing that, because my skin is burnt on the right, it probably won't really start healing there until my skin starts healing after treatment ends, which is in 3 more days. You have no idea how happy I am that this coming to an end.

The bottom line of the Erbitux rash is that it is critical to take very good care of your skin. I take about an hour in the shower each morning, with the water on barely a trickle because the direct spray hurts the tender affected skin. I use a neutral ph skin cleanser (I use Seba Med skin cleanser in a pump bottle from CVS - I'm sure there also are many other good cleansers). I do small sections of my face at a time and then rinse. Yes, it's a total pain, but when you look at the big picture, it's a temporary inconvenience, and I know there are those who have it so much worse than I do.

I do also have some red and swelling cuticles around a couple of the nails on my hands. I just carry Neosporin with me and keep them coated to prevent infection. I apologize for such a graphic description of my experience. My doctors say my response is worse than most, and you can see by the other posters' responses to your question that everyone reacts differently. Remember, just take one day at a time and this too will pass.

Rash
I have had treatments since march. My rash started out covering head,face chest and back. Now it is on back and chest. It is not much on head and face now
Ck