CRYOTHERAPY

What is Cryotherapy: 

Cryotherapy for skin lesions is a medical procedure that is no longer available on the NHS. It involves using extreme nitrous oxide to treat various skin conditions such as pigmentation, age spots, skin tags, cherry angiomas, milia, warts & moles. It has several advantages over other types of treatments; it is a relatively quick and painless procedure and there is minimal scarring or damage to the surrounding healthy tissue. 

How does Cryotherapy work: 

The medical grade CryoPen emits a very fine targeted jet of nitrous oxide under high pressure, enabling the practitioner to work with very fine precision. The tissue is destroyed by freezing the inter-cellular fluid, with formation of ice crystals. This leads to rupture of the cell membrane and destroying the cell meaning there will be no collateral damage to healthy tissue, and minimal risk of scarring. 

What to expect during the treatment: 

Before your treatment, you’ll have an in-depth consultation with Claire to help you understand more about cryotherapy and to make sure it is a suitable treatment for you.  

The skin lesion will be cleaned with an antiseptic wipe after which a small applicator is used to apply the nitrogen oxide to the lesion for 10-15 seconds. The lesion is left to thaw for 30 seconds after which the freezing procedure is repeated twice over. You may feel a slight stinging sensation whilst the nitrogen oxide is applied & for a couple of minutes after but this is short lived. 

What to expect after the treatment: 

The area treated will have some redness which will subside after a few hours. A blister may form around the treated area that can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. After 3-5 days the lesion will become dry and flaky as it is healing and the lesion will begin to shed. We recommend a follow-up visit after 2 to 4 weeks to confirm that all pathological tissue has disappeared and whether a follow-up treatment is necessary. 

Aftercare: 

In the 24 hours following the treatment the area will go darker and develop a crust on the surface. Do not pick this off. When it naturally falls away you will see new skin which is a shiny pink colour.  This is not scarring. It will re pigment over the following weeks and could take several months. Do not pick the treated area at any time after treatment otherwise the area will take longer to heal. Savlon Adanced Healing Gel can be applied to encourage healing. Please use a sunblock factor 50 on any pigmentation removal until it has re-pigmented, this may take up to eight weeks. You can continue to use make up, deodorant or perfumes on treated areas but try and leave for as long as you can on the day of treatment.  

Price

£60 for inital treatment

£40 for any subsequent sessions required