Removal of Warts & Verruccae & Other Lesions

Warts and Verruccae can be treated with chemicals or removed by scalpel or electro-surgery. Surgical removal is painful, leaves an open wound, risking infection and a scar remains.

An excellent alternative is to freeze the wart.

It is clear that tissue subjected to temperatures below -20°C is destroyed. To ensure success in destroying a wart, freeze about 2mm beyond and around the root. This will effectively destroy the diseased tissue which will remain in place until the tissue heals. The dead tissue then sloughs off.

This ensures that the site is shielded from infection until healing is completed. The entire process is relatively painless. There is no risk of permanent damage to the bones, cartilage or other structures.

With cryotherapy, no scar remains but there is a loss of pigmentation from the skin.

There are a number of methods used for cryotherapy:

1. Cryo "guns" are efficient and easily controlled devices using the fact that as gas expands it draws heat from its surroundings. Cylinders of Nitrous Oxide or Carbon Dioxide are used. (These are under pressure of about 60Kg/cm²).

The gas is carried through the instrument to be allowed to expand as it reaches normal atmospheric pressure at the end of a metal tip which is placed against the tissue to be frozen.

Nitrous Oxide produces a freeze of -89°C, and Carbon Dioxide -69°C.

As the freeze continues one can see a circle of ice radiating from the tip along the surface of the tissue. The depth is the same as the radius seen on the surface and so one has control over the volume of freeze and can judge when the freeze is about 2mm into healthy tissue. This ensures destruction of the wart.

Genesis Medical supplies the Wallach LL100 multi-tip cryofreezer from Wallach Surgical Devices (www.wallachsurgical.com) which has an instant defrost facility and so avoids the awkward wait for the defrost of other systems.

 
 

2. Liquid Nitrogen Sprays. These instruments essentially comprise a thermos flask with a nozzle through which the liquid nitrogen is sprayed onto the tissue. This procedure can be difficult to control without splashing off target.

The same liquid nitrogen sprays may have hollow tips attached to the aperture. These tips are applied to the tissue and the liquid nitrogen sprays into the tips.

Genesis Medical supplies the Ultrafreeze liquid nitrogen spray from Wallach Surgical Devices (www.wallachsurgical.com).

 


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