Escharotic and other botanical agents for the treatment of skin cancer: a review.

A growing era of alternative medicine is upon us. All who practice medicine have a small population of patients who eschew Western medicine and prefer alternative approaches, including botanical remedies, to treat their medical problems. Many alternative practitioners advertise and sell products on the Internet. Indeed, this trend now includes a growing number of topical treatments for skin cancer, including escharotic agents. Self-treatment of skin cancer requires a substance that will destroy tissue, usually indiscriminately. Escharotic agents are caustic, corrosive substances that produce a thick coagulated crust (an eschar) and subsequently a scar. The following case illustrates one representative situation.