Cryotherapy
This straight forward technique freezes the skin and can remove unwanted skin lesions.Cryotherapy has an important role to play in treating verrucae, warts and some other skin lesions.
It is a safe and easy to perform and it is offered by a number of the GPs at the practice.
It uses liquid nitrogen that is stored in a small portable canister.
The lesion is frozen for a few seconds by a fine jet of liquid nitrogen. It creates a temporary frozen state and after less than 1 minute the lesion thaws and the doctor repeats the freeze cycle for a second time.
It feels uncomfortable during the process but this is fleeting and immediately settles once the lesion has thawed.
Over the following days the lesion will redden and may blister and scab and then hopefully disappear. However some lesions, especially warts and verrucae require more than one treatment session.