Medical Questions » Skin Questions » Question No. 870
| Question: | My skin specialist said he would be using cryotherapy on my next visit to him, but he didn' t explain anything more about it. What is cryotherapy? |
| Answer: | ' Cryo' means ' cold' in Greek, so cryotherapy is any treatment involving low temperatures or freezing.
Cryotherapy is most commonly involved in the freezing of small skin cancers and warts by general practitioners, dermatologists and plastic surgeons. Liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide snow is applied to the lump, and freezes it instantly. This destroys the mole, and it shrivels up into a small black lump, which after a few days falls off leaving a small sore that then heals.
It is a very safe and effective procedure, and is associated with only minimal discomfort. The only complication is that if not all of the wart or skin cancer is frozen, after a time it may regrow.
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