Cryotherapy is a form of treatment that uses intense cold to treat skin conditions. Liquid nitrogen treatment is a form of cryotherapy that is used to treat common skin conditions such as
- viral warts,
- seborrhoeic warts and
- skin tags.
This is carried out by applying liquid nitrogen to the skin lesion which then causes a localised frostbite injury. The lesion may blister and scab. It will typically drop off after a few days to 1 to 2 weeks.
With cryotherapy, the skin may heal with hypopigmentation (skin becomes lighter), or hyperpigmentation (skin becomes dark). Your skin colour will usually slowly return to normal after a few weeks or months.
With that said, cryotherapy is not a treatment for hyperpigmentation, especially post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. In fact, it may aggravate or even worsen the pigmentation.
