What is skin cryosurgery?
• Skin cryosurgery, or cryotherapy, is a procedure to treat your skin lesion by freezing it. A skin lesion is a spot or growth on your skin. Skin cryosurgery is done using a cold substance, usually liquid nitrogen. It works by cooling the tissues until ice balls form. The cold kills the lesions’ skin cells, without hurting healthy tissue that is nearby. • You may need to have skin cryosurgery more than once to get rid of your lesion. The same skin lesion may need to be treated again with cryosurgery after a few weeks. Your caregiver will tell you how many treatments you may need, and when you should have them. Cryosurgery may also be used with other treatments, such as such as medicine, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. After your skin lesion is treated with cryosurgery, the symptoms or problems it causes may decrease or go away. Why may I need skin cryosurgery? • To remove benign (non-cancer) lesions, such as angiomas, seborrheic keratoses, and warts. Ask your caregiver fo
