Cryotherapy at Edinburgh Hospital

Cryotherapy for skin lesions and sun spots

Cryotherapy is also a treatment for skin lesions such as warts or skin tags, as well as sun spots, which are premalignant skin lesions caused by sun exposure.

The idea is to freeze the abnormal lesion and a small amount of surrounding normal skin. When the frozen cells subsequently thaw out, the skin cells essentially die and regenerate themselves over time. This all happens on the surface layer of the skin called the epidermis. 

There are many ways to carry out the treatment. The most common method uses liquid nitrogen, which drops the temperature of skin quickly to way below freezing. The nitrogen is applied through a 'gun' that sprays the liquid onto the skin, or it can be applied with a cotton bud or something similar.

After cryotherapy, blistering and redness often occur and the site can look as if it's been burned for a week or more. In time, new fresh skin cells grow and heal the area that was treated.