a kind of magic
Well-Known Member
My husband's mare has a sarcoid in a vunerable area, right above her eye. It went undetected for a long time as we just thought it was an area of scarred skin, then she rubbed it and it turned nasty.
The vets were involved at this point, photos were sent to Liverpool and they suggested a course of BCG because of the location. We were waiting and waiting for the BCG drugs to come from Liverpool but by the time they finally turned up, she had rubbed the now lychee size section of the sarcoid off whilst turned out in the field. More photos sent to Liverpool who confirmed there was now not enough mass to inject safely with BCG and suggested treating with radiotherapy, the dodgy location meant they had to rule out other means almost immediately. Unfortunately this was not an option due to cost, they then said we could use Bloodroot ointment as long as it was applied thinly and VERY carefully but we were both very worried about getting it in her eye.
A bit of research led me to a study done on the use of 5% aciclovir cream (Zovirax) on sarcoids with very good success, applied directly to the sarcoid once or twice a day. The study was over 6 months. I spoke to our vet, showing them the result of these studies, they suggested it was definitely worth a go. Luckily our local chemist has an 'own brand' cream for £2.50 a tube, this lasts a week.
She has been having the cream applied daily for a month now and we are very impressed. The pink area is much less angry looking and has shrunk, the grey warty area has flattened considerably and also shrunk, to the point there is now normal tissue with hair growth and in general it is looking 100% better.
I have photos that I am just putting onto photobucket to paste in here but so far we are very impressed and confident that it will at least be greatly reduced by the end of the 6 months!
The vets were involved at this point, photos were sent to Liverpool and they suggested a course of BCG because of the location. We were waiting and waiting for the BCG drugs to come from Liverpool but by the time they finally turned up, she had rubbed the now lychee size section of the sarcoid off whilst turned out in the field. More photos sent to Liverpool who confirmed there was now not enough mass to inject safely with BCG and suggested treating with radiotherapy, the dodgy location meant they had to rule out other means almost immediately. Unfortunately this was not an option due to cost, they then said we could use Bloodroot ointment as long as it was applied thinly and VERY carefully but we were both very worried about getting it in her eye.
A bit of research led me to a study done on the use of 5% aciclovir cream (Zovirax) on sarcoids with very good success, applied directly to the sarcoid once or twice a day. The study was over 6 months. I spoke to our vet, showing them the result of these studies, they suggested it was definitely worth a go. Luckily our local chemist has an 'own brand' cream for £2.50 a tube, this lasts a week.
She has been having the cream applied daily for a month now and we are very impressed. The pink area is much less angry looking and has shrunk, the grey warty area has flattened considerably and also shrunk, to the point there is now normal tissue with hair growth and in general it is looking 100% better.
I have photos that I am just putting onto photobucket to paste in here but so far we are very impressed and confident that it will at least be greatly reduced by the end of the 6 months!