The benefits of cryotherapy for skin range from cosmetic to medical. Here are four uses for the different types of cryotherapy.
Can Treat Skin Cancers
Cryotherapy — specifically cryoablation — can be used to treat skin cancers in various stages, from precancerous skin conditions to early-stage cancers like squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma.
When dermatologists or family physicians use cryotherapy in this way, it’s a proven medical treatment supported by research, Dr. Borok says.
With minimally invasive cryoablation, abnormal precancerous cells are frozen off. The area of the skin will then blister and peel off, making way for healthy skin to emerge.
The exposure to the extreme cold is what kills the cells.
Can Remove Warts, Skin Tags, and Dark Spots
Cryoablation can also be used to get rid of unwanted skin issues, such as warts, skin tags, and dark spots.
It’s the same procedure that’s used to treat certain types of skin cancers (as described above), where the abnormal tissue is removed with extreme cold via liquid nitrogen. The treatment isn’t typically painful, but may sting for some patients and leave the skin red immediately after treatment. The resulting scab usually heals within three weeks.
This use of cryotherapy is a well-established treatment that’s supported by research, Borok says. Typically, just one round of cryosurgery is needed, but larger or thicker areas may need additional rounds every three or four weeks.
May Reduce Some (but Not All) Visible Signs of Skin Aging
There’s not much data supporting cryotherapy for wrinkles. One previous small study involving 36 people explored the effects of focused cold therapy on forehead wrinkles, using nitrous oxide targeted to the facial nerve. Ninety-one percent found slight improvement in forehead line severity one month post treatment.
Borok says that while you may see cryofacial treatment options offered at med spas that claim to help smooth wrinkles, this benefit is not yet supported by research.
Howard Sobel, MD, a cosmetic dermatologic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, also doesn’t recommend cryotherapy if your goal is anti-aging. Only a very deep peel with liquid nitrogen would reduce the appearance of wrinkles, but it’s not usually used to remove wrinkles as there are much more effective sources of treatment, Dr. Sobel says. Retinoids, Botox, and fillers are other more conventional wrinkle-treatment options.
Cryotherapy has, however, been used to treat sun spots or age spots (solar lentigo), a sign of photoaging, and Sobel uses that treatment in his practice.
According to one review out of Iran involving about 3,200 participants, cryotherapy showed improvement in about half of the patients with sun spots, but it comes with more side effects than other effective treatment options.
Borok recommends people with dark skin types avoid cryotherapy because there’s an increased risk of hypopigmentation and hyperpigmentation, where the skin can become lighter or darker. Other treatment options include photodynamic therapy, topical chemotherapy, immune-modifying creams, laser surgery, and chemical peeling.
