It freezes tissue.
Liquid nitrogen destroys selected tissue through freezing and thawing.
Cryotherapy vs Electrodesiccation and Curettage
Cryotherapy: Liquid nitrogen is sprayed or dabbed onto a spot to freeze and destroy it. It is a standard treatment for warts, precancerous sun spots and some harmless growths. It commonly leaves a pale mark that does not fully come back.
Electrodesiccation and Curettage: A small, low-risk skin cancer is scraped out with a sharp loop, and the base is then burned. It takes one visit and needs no stitches. It leaves a round pale scar, and the edges are never checked under a microscope.
Choose Cryotherapy if…
Choose for quick removal of warts, sun-damage spots or harmless growths — accepting a possible pale mark.
- A wart or rough sun spot
- You want it done in one quick visit
- A pale mark wouldn't bother you
Choose Electrodesiccation and Curettage if…
Choose for a small, low-risk skin cancer on the body when one quick visit with no stitches matters more than margin checking.
- A small, low-risk basal cell cancer
- On the trunk or limbs, not the face
- You accept a round pale scar
Alternatives, not combined
Can you have both?
Both remove small surface growths. Cryotherapy freezes them; ED&C scrapes and seals them. One is chosen per spot.
Key differences
● Cryotherapy
● Electrodesiccation and Curettage
DowntimeNone → 2+ weeks
1–2 weeks
2+ weeks
PainMinimal → Needs anesthesia or sedation
Mild
Mild
Results showImmediately → 3+ months
1–4 weeks
Immediately
How long it lastsWeeks → Years or permanent
Years or permanent
Years or permanent
Visits neededOne → Every few months
A short series (2–3)
One
Cost per visit$ → $$$$$
$
$$
ReversibleYes, can be undone → No, permanent
No, permanent
No, permanent
What is it?
Cryotherapy
Electrodesiccation and Curettage
What is it?
It treats diagnosed lesions.
It is used for benign or precancerous spots.
It leaves no specimen.
Nothing remains for microscopic examination.
Uncertain moles should not be frozen.
A diagnosis is needed first.
It combines scraping and heat.
A lesion is scraped with a curette and treated electrically.
It suits superficial lesions.
It can treat carefully selected low-risk skin cancers.
It does not check margins.
It lacks the margin assessment of excision or Mohs surgery.
Not every cancer qualifies.
Type, site, size and depth determine suitability.
What it treats
Evidence level
Cryotherapy
Electrodesiccation and Curettage
Strong evidenceMost established uses
Warts
A first-line treatment.
Actinic Keratosis
Clears precancers.
Seborrheic Keratosis
Removes growths.
Basal Cell Carcinoma
High cure rates for small tumors.
Seborrheic Keratosis
Removes growths quickly.
Moderate evidenceSome supportive research
Skin Tags
Freezes small tags.
Squamous Cell Carcinoma
For small, low-risk tumors.
Little evidence
Keloids
Injections work better.
—
Not effective
Melanoma
Needs excision.
Melanoma
Needs excision with margins.
Can make it worse
—
Keloids
Can trigger new keloids.
Treatment areas
Treatment areas
The specific lesion, scar or affected patch determines the treatment site; there is no fixed body distribution.
The specific lesion, scar or affected patch determines the treatment site; there is no fixed body distribution.
Skin tones
Skin tone
● Cryotherapy
● Electrodesiccation and Curettage
Lighter skin
Some risk
A pale mark may not fully return.
Some risk
A round pale scar.
Medium skin
Some risk
Pale or dark marks are more visible.
Some risk
Pale scar is more visible.
Deeper skin
Higher risk
Lasting pale patches are common; ask about alternatives.
Higher risk
Pale or raised scars are more noticeable; discuss excision.
How it works
Cryotherapy
Electrodesiccation and Curettage
How it works
Diagram explanation
A selected lesion is frozen: A clinician applies liquid nitrogen to the treatment area. Cold injures the tissue: A controlled freeze-thaw response damages the target. The treated area sheds and heals: A blister or crust may form; repeat treatment can be needed.
Schematic illustration. Technique and response vary. This explains a mechanism and does not specify treatment settings.
A curette removes tissue: A clinician scrapes away the selected lesion. Electrical treatment treats the base: Energy dries or coagulates tissue in the treatment bed. The wound heals: The open area repairs with scar tissue; follow-up remains important.
Schematic illustration. Technique and response vary. This explains a mechanism and does not specify treatment settings.
Before your treatment
Cryotherapy
Electrodesiccation and Curettage
The week before
A few days before: Thick warts: Soaking and filing the wart with a pumice stone or emery board helps the freeze reach the wart, not the callus on top.
Ask your provider: Several spots: If more than one spot is planned, ask to start with one and see how the skin heals.
Do not stop: Blood thinners: Aspirin, clopidogrel, warfarin, apixaban, rivaroxaban and similar are usually continued — extra oozing is easier to manage than a clot or a stroke.
Ointment and dressings: Buy plain petrolatum ointment and non-stick dressings beforehand, not on the way home.
Day of treatment
Cryotherapy
Electrodesiccation and Curettage
Before you arrive
Not specified
What to wear and eat: Wear something you do not mind getting blood on.
Arrival & prep
The spot is examined first — the most important part of the visit.
The lesion is matched against the biopsy report, photographed, and consent signed.
Treatment
Liquid nitrogen is sprayed or dabbed on until a white frozen halo covers the spot and a small margin.
A sun spot takes seconds; a wart takes longer and is usually thawed and frozen again the same visit. It burns and stings, peaking as the skin thaws, then aches for a few hours. Fingertips, toes, soles and ears are sorest. Brief and unpleasant, not severe.
The doctor scrapes with the curette, which feels like pressure and tugging, not pain.
The electric probe follows, with a faint buzz and a smell of burning. The pair is repeated two or three times; one lesion takes about 10 to 20 minutes. Nothing should feel sharp once you are numb, so say so if it does.
Before you leave
Red, swollen and tender, sometimes blistering within the hour.
A round, shallow, raw crater slightly larger than the growth, under ointment and a dressing.
After your treatment
Cryotherapy
Electrodesiccation and Curettage
First 24 hours
Days 1 to 3: A clear or blood-filled blister is expected, not a sign anything went wrong.
Day 1 to 7: The wound weeps and the base looks yellow.
Days 2–7
Days 4 to 14: The blister dries into a dark crust with the growth on top, and lifts off on its own over one to two weeks.
Not specified
Weeks 2–4
Weeks 2 to 8: New skin is pink and delicate.
Weeks 2 to 6: The crater shrinks and the base turns pink.
Beyond 1 month
Not specified
Month 2 to 12: The scar starts pink and firm, then flattens and pales over roughly a year.
Time to results
1–3 weeks
Immediately
How long results last
Permanent for growths; warts may need repeats
90–95% cure for suitable cancers
Risks
Risks
- A pale mark that is not filling back in
- A dark mark
- Numbness or tingling
- A raised or thickened scar
- Hair loss in the treated patch
- Still not healed after 4 weeks
- The growth is back or never went
- Most of what happens after this procedure is expected rather than a complication
- Incomplete removal
- A raised or thickened scar
- A wound that stalls
- Numbness or a patch that stays firm
- When to contact your provider
Cost
Per session
Cosmetic prices vary a lot and are usually quoted per lesion or per visit, cheaper per spot when several are done at once.
This is the least expensive way to treat a skin cancer surgically.
Insurance
In the US, freezing warts and precancerous sun spots is billed as medical treatment, so you pay your copay or whatever the deductible has not covered.
In the US it is billed as a destruction procedure, priced by lesion size and body site, and generally covered when it treats a diagnosed skin cancer.
Questions
Cryotherapy
Electrodesiccation and Curettage
Individual Questions
Does freezing leave a white mark?
Often. Pigment cells die at milder cold than the growth, so most effective freezes take some color out. Some returns over months; a good part does not. The mark is usually a little wider than the spot and stands out far more on deeper skin tones — worth discussing before you agree.
Can a mole be frozen off?
No. Freezing destroys the tissue without a diagnosis, so a skin cancer can heal over at the surface while it keeps growing underneath. Anything pigmented, new or changing gets examined and sampled, and moles that need removing are cut out and sent to a laboratory. Same for at-home freezing and mole removal pens.
How much does it hurt?
A sharp burning sting for ten to thirty seconds during the freeze and the thaw, then an ache for a few hours. Fingers, toes, soles and ears are worst. Brief and genuinely unpleasant rather than severe, and ordinary painkillers are enough.
Is the blister normal, and should I pop it?
Normal, and it is how the treatment works — the skin separates and lifts the growth off with the blister roof. Leave it alone and cover it. If it is large, tense and painful, the clinic can drain it, which beats tearing the roof off yourself.
How many treatments will my wart need?
Usually several, every two to four weeks. Many clear over three to six treatments, some need more, and some never respond. Salicylic acid at home in between improves the odds. If nothing has changed after three or four sessions, ask about a different approach.
Are the drugstore freeze kits the same as what a doctor uses?
No. They use a propellant gas much warmer than liquid nitrogen and harder to aim, so they are weaker on thick and plantar warts. They can still blister and leave a pale mark. Not for the face, and never on a mole or an unexamined spot.
Does it hurt?
The numbing injection stings for under a minute. After that you feel pressure and tugging, not pain. Afterward the site is sore rather than painful, and acetaminophen is enough.
Why don't they check the edges under a microscope?
There is no intact specimen to check — the tumor is scraped away in fragments and the base burned. The method relies on the operator feeling soft tumor against firm normal tissue, which is reliable for shallow, clearly bordered tumors and unreliable for others.
What will the scar look like?
A round, flat disc, usually slightly wider than the original spot and lighter than the skin around it. Some are a little sunken, some raised. Pink at first, paling over about a year. It is permanent.
How long until it heals?
About 3 to 6 weeks on the face, trunk and arms. On the lower leg it is slower, sometimes two to three months, particularly in older adults or with diabetes or poor circulation.
Can I have this instead of Mohs surgery on my face?
Sometimes, for a small superficial tumor on the cheek or forehead. Generally not for the nose, eyelids, ears, lips or the creases around them, where recurrence is higher and there is less spare skin. Ask why one is recommended over the other for your tumor.
What are the chances it comes back?
For a well-selected, small, low-risk tumor, cure at 5 years is commonly quoted around 95 percent. That falls when the method is used on tumors it was not meant for — aggressive subtypes, recurrent tumors, unclear borders, high-risk facial sites.
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