Cryotherapy has been used for many years by dermatologists for the removal of age spots and other types of brown pigmented lesions from the skin. Recently it has been introduced as a full face peeling agent for the treatment of sun damaged skin.
Nitrogen in its liquid form is very cold and when sprayed on the skin will cause a localized frostbite to the top layer of the skin. This is known as cryotherapy (cold therapy).
The steps involved in a cryopeel are as follows:
A local or topical anesthetic may be used. If a topical anesthetic is used, it may also be enhanced by other forms of painkillers and muscle relaxants. This is important as the procedure is quite painful. Some physicians use a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agent to help control pain.
The skin is cleaned and the face is divided into treatment segments with a marking pen.
The skin in each segment is stretched so the liquid nitrogen can be applied evenly to the surface of each area.
The liquid nitrogen is sprayed onto each segment in a back and forth motion similar to the strokes of a paintbrush. if age spots are encountered more liquid nitrogen is administered to the spots in a spiral like fashion to increase the depth of destruction.
The skin blanches when the liquid nitrogen is first applied. This is followed by a period of swelling, blistering and oozing which lasts approximately 5 days Subsequent crusting peels off within 10 days.
Once the peeling process is complete the skin is pink in color. This gradually fades to a normal skin tone over a period of 3 to 6 months.
Some physicians will do several very superficial cryopeels where the face is gently sprayed frequently over a period of several months. This does not get rid of age spots but does cause superficial swelling which puffs up the fine wrinklesThere is some speculation that this process may provide long term benefit by realigning the collagen in the second layer of the skin. Blistering and oozing does not occur with this technique. The skin simply feels tingly when sprayed and may be a bit pink for a short time afterwards.
