Cryotherapy for HPV infection

What is cryotherapy?
Cryotherapy (Cryotherapy) or cold therapy is an effective, non-invasive method to destroy and freeze lesions and skin masses such as warts as well as pre-cancerous lesions, using liquid nitrogen or in some cases carbon dioxide. In fact, in this method, we put a part of the body under very low temperature and try to completely eliminate skin lesions by freezing. This method is very safe, provided that the target lesion is correctly diagnosed. Because if it is used in the treatment of melanoma and other colored lesions, it will aggravate the lesion.

Cryotherapy of genital warts
Genital warts are a viral disease and cryotherapy is not completely effective in its treatment, but it can eliminate up to 60% of warts. Also, when the genital wart spreads, cryo is not a suitable method in the treatment of this disease, and you should consult the relevant doctor about this.

How is cryotherapy performed?
To perform cryotherapy, after diagnosis, using a special device called cryospray, liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide snow or the substance used by the doctor is sprayed to the desired area for a few seconds. Another way of this operation is to use liquid nitrogen on the skin with the aim of removing the lesion using a piece of foam. This procedure may be accompanied by a little pain or burning, which is tolerable and will not cause serious problems. It should be noted that this process may need to be repeated and may not be completely eliminated in one session.

How is the treatment of genital warts by cryo method?

Cryotherapy (cryosurgery) removes genital warts by applying liquid nitrogen and freezing. This is done in the following steps:

The doctor applies liquid nitrogen to the warts and around them. At this time, nitrogen penetrates deep into the fleshy appendages.
Then the appendage tissue is frozen with liquid nitrogen. The doctor waits for the tissue to melt. If necessary and diagnosed by the doctor, it is possible to freeze the wart tissue again.
Finally, liquid nitrogen destroys the appendage tissue by destroying the cell wall and the treated part becomes inflamed. This inflammation helps the infected tissue to disappear faster and the scales caused by warts begin to fall.
The time to perform this operation varies according to the number of warts and their size. The patient may feel a mild or moderate burning sensation during the treatment.

It should be noted that genital warts in the urethra or anus usually require more treatment time because the warts may have formed inside the opening of these organs.

The advantage of cryotherapy over pharmaceutical methods
It can definitely be said that treatment with cryo is better than various methods with other drugs or ointments. The advantages of this method are:

Treatment in one session in the shortest possible time.
The possibility of transferring the wart to other parts of the body in this method is zero.
It has very little pain and the patient is not bothered.
It preserves the appearance of the skin and does not leave scars.
It is performed completely on an outpatient basis in the clinic and does not require hospitalization.
Does the treatment of genital warts with cryo have any side effects?
Freezing genital warts and freezing appendages is a completely safe and secure method, but in some rare cases, it can bring risks, including wound infection. which is solved by taking oral antibiotics.