Cryotherapy
Your dermatologist may suggest Cryotherapy as the best cause of treatment for removal of a skin lesion.
What is Cryotherapy?
Cryotherapy means ‘treatment with low temperatures’ therefore the procedure works by freezing the skin lesion most commonly using liquid nitrogen.
Liquid nitrogen is the liquid state of nitrogen gas and makes up 78% of the air that we breathe. It can freeze and destroy any part of the skin that it comes into contact with.
Many abnormal area of skin (lesions) can be treated with cryotherapy. This includes:
- Non-cancerous (benign) lesions
- Warts and verrucas
- Seborrheic warts/keratoses
- Solar keratoses
- Bowen’s disease
- Basal cell carcinoma
Taking place as an Outpatient appointment, your consultant will apply the product to the specific area of skin for a few seconds (dependant on the size of the area being treated) using a spray gun or a cotton bud. The procedure may need to be repeat serval times. Your treatment plan will be confirmed by your Consultant.
Cryotherapy feels very cold with the discomfort lasting a couple of minutes. The procedure does not require local anaesthetic as the discomfort is bearable. The frozen skin become white and takes one to two minutes to thaw back to normal skin temperature.
The treatment may leave the skin looking similar to that of a burn though after a few days a scab will begin to form and within a few weeks the skin lesion should begin to fall off.
Aim to keep the area dry for up to 24 hours and then you are able to gently wash and pat dry. A petroleum jelly can be applied daily to help recovery and prevent crusting.
It is important not to pick the scab as this will encourage scarring. A dressing or plaster is not usually necessary. We recommend you keep the area clean and dry, allowing the scab to fall off naturally.
Reference: The British Associate of Dermatologists.