Elocon or Elocom

[Bad Karma]

Hello all. First time poster 10 year sufferer here. Does anyone no of an
over the counter alternative to Elocon/Elocom ointment? Thanks much.

Victor

[JR]

I've used Elocon with much success on my scalp. The only OTC I've used with
anything close to success is T/Sal shampoo (every day) and 3% Salicylic acid
lotion (twice a day). Eckerd makes a cheap generic lotion. Elocon gives me
complete clearing after using it for 3-4 days, and then I'm clear for 3-4
weeks. The T/Sal + SA gives relief, but it doesn't clear me up. Loads
cheaper, though.

"Bad Karma" <bdk...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:vsafa.60972$Dp.4...@fe01.atl2.webusenet.com...

[Kim]

On Sun, 23 Mar 2003 04:18:02 GMT, bdk...@comcast.net (Bad Karma)
wrote:

>Hello all. First time poster 10 year sufferer here. Does anyone no of an
>over the counter alternative to Elocon/Elocom ointment? Thanks much.

Alternative how - same thing non-prescription or different approach?

Elocon is a high potency steroid, and those are prescription only.
You can get hydrocortisone, a much milder corticosteroid OTC in a lot
of places, but it's not likely to be as effective. Especially if
you've been using a stronger one regularly.

As to alternative approaches, the only 2 OTC ingredientsapproved by
the American FDA to treat psoriasis are coal tar and salicylic acid.
Someone mentioned some sal acid products in another reply. Sal acid,
BTW is basically a keratolytic, which means it reduces the scaly build
up, but as the other posted said, it's not usually enough to clear on
its own. You can find more sal acid based products and a whole bunch
of names for tar based ones at psorsite:

http://www.psorsite.com/coaltar.html
http://www.psorsite.com/salacid.html

there are a whole bunch of other non-prescription things people have
tried that have helped their psoriasis that you can find by checking
the archives, ranging form stress management to dietary changes to
sunbathing to tea tree oil products to salt baths. However, you need
to remember that YMMV and nothing works the same for everyeone, so
even if something helped someone else, it might not help you. While
alternative treatments can take a longer time to work. One thing to
consider is using multiple things at the same time, to boost the net
effect. Group archives can be searched using the tools at
http://www.pinch.com/skin

Kim

[Nico Girl]

The last time I tried to get a prescription filled for Elocon, I was
told that it had been discontinued & my derm prescribed fluicionode
(sp?), which does not work as well.

Is Elocon still available? Am I going to have to hurt my pharmacist?

Kim <kim...@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:<h6os7v4qe90poeite...@4ax.com>...

[Kim]

Dunno, when did he say that. It still comes up on a websearch at the
online pharmacies and medline has it listed on a page updated 1/2003.
And it's still listed on Schering-Plough's (the manufacturer) website
http://www.sch-plough.com/prod/prod05_derm.html

Don't hurt him too badly - ask him where he heard (I always do that
first thing when a pharmacist says something like that) and either
check with schering plough directly yourself or have him do so to
check it out.
Might be a matter of his distributor no longer getting it, which is a
different thing and actually deserves a bit of pain on his part if he
mislead you about the real problem : )

Kim