Cryotherapy is recognised as the benchmark in dermatology practice worldwide. The CryoPen® allows us to work with millimetre precision for removing all benign skin lesions with no more collateral damage to healthy tissue.
With quick and pain-free treatments, we can remove benign cosmetic lesions in a matter of seconds. These include:
- Skin tags
- Warts
- Benign Moles
- Solar lentigines (age and sun spots, liver spots)
- Verrucae
- Cherry angioma
- Seborrhoeic keratosis
What conditions can be treated with cryotherapy?
A wide variety of superficial benign (non-cancerous) lesions can be treated with cryotherapy, but it is most commonly used to remove actinic keratoses (an area of sun-damaged skin found predominantly on sun-exposed parts of the body), viral warts, seborrhoeic keratoses, Bowen’s disease and other benign lesions. I advise that any suspicious lesions are reviewed by your GP prior to treatment.
What does the procedure involve?
Although there is slight local pain felt, cryotherapy does not normally require a local anaesthetic, and the procedure itself lasts a matter of seconds; the precise time depends on the thickness and size of the lesion. The frozen skin becomes white and takes one to two minutes to thaw back to normal skin temperature. After a few days, a scab will form, and this will take one to two weeks to fall off (occasionally a little longer, especially on the legs). Usually, the treated area will eventually look normal, although scarring and discolouration is possible, and rarely ulceration, particularly on the lower legs.
Depending on the nature of the lesion, more than one treatment may be necessary, and this is usually repeated at regular intervals.
How should the treated area be cared for?
You should care for the treated areas by keeping them dry and applying Vaseline to the affected skin if needed. If the scabs become wet, they should be patted dry with a soft towel or tissue. It is important not to pick the scab as this will encourage scarring. A dressing or plaster is not usually necessary but may be advisable if the treated area is likely to be knocked or rubbed by clothing.
Side effects:
- Pain – cryotherapy is usually well-tolerated but can sometimes be
- painful if a deep freeze has been necessary (i.e. to treat a basal cell carcinoma). This discomfort can occur both at the time of treatment and for a variable time thereafter. Painkillers (such as paracetamol) taken for the first 24 hours may relieve the discomfort; also taking a painkiller an hour or so prior to the anticipated treatment may reduce the discomfort.
- Swelling and redness – this is a normal immediate response to freezing the skin and usually settles after two to three days. For a short while the treated area may ooze a little watery fluid. Cryotherapy close to the eyes may induce prominent puffiness of the lower eyelids which settles
- within days.
- Blistering – this is also a common consequence of cryotherapy and
- blisters settle after a few days as the scab forms. Some people blister more easily than others and the development of blisters does not necessarily mean that the skin has been frozen too much. Occasionally the blisters may become filled with blood; this is harmless and should only be punctured if a blister is painful and very uncomfortable, using a sterile needle. We would suggest you gain advice from your GP or doctor who performed the treatment before doing this.
- Infection – uncommonly, infection can occur, resulting in increased pain and the formation of pus: this may require topical antiseptic or antibiotic therapy from the doctor who performed the treatment or your GP.
- Subsequent side effects:
- Scarring – rarely, a scar will form, especially if a deep freeze has
- been necessary
- Hypertrophic/Keloid scarring – very rarely a raised scar can form following treatment with cryotherapy which appears as a rounded, hard growth on the skin. These are harmless lesions, more
- common in dark skinned individuals compared to Caucasians.
- Pigmentation changes – the skin at and around the treatment site may lighten or darken in colour, especially in dark-skinned people.
- This usually improves with time but may be permanent.
- Numbness – if a superficial nerve is frozen, it may result in numbness of the area of skin supplied by that nerve. Normal feeling
- usually returns within a matter of months.
- Treatment may not be effective, or the condition may recur.
Cryotherapy
For the removal of benign skin imperfections.
Cryotherapy is a form of treatment that uses cold temperatures to therapeutic effect. It can be used locally, in a highly targeted way to treat minor skin imperfections.
Cryotherapy is a medical treatment where the imperfection is exposed to extremely cold temperatures for a short period of time. The treatment can be done on specific body areas where the skin has a benign skin lesion.
What is cryotherapy?
The term ‘cryotherapy’ literally means ‘treatment using low temperature’ and refers to the removal of surface skin lesions by freezing them. The most commonly used freezing agent or product is liquid nitrogen.
What is liquid nitrogen?
Liquid nitrogen is the liquid state of nitrogen gas, which occupies 78% of the air we breathe. It is extremely cold, having a boiling point of minus 196°C. It can freeze and destroy any part of the skin that it comes into contact with. It is necessary to store and transport liquid nitrogen in special flasks.
All treatments require a consultation, in some cases you may be asked to see your GP
Prices from £50