What is Cryotherapy for Warts?
Cryotherapy is the procedure used for freezing off warts.  It is primarily performed by a doctor who would normally use a local anesthetic. By freezing warts with liquid nitrogen the top of the wart is killed.  Using either a spray or a swab liquid nitrogen is applied directly to the wart and surrounding skin.  It often requires several applications to completely freeze off warts.

What happens after the wart freezes?
An hour or two after the treatment a blister may form.  Within a few days the blister dries up and at this point the wart may fall off.  However it is often the case that several treatments may be needed.  Sometimes the blister will burst and if it does it is important to follow the highest standards of hygiene.  This is because the liquid inside the blister could contain the wart virus.  You should clean and disinfect the area around the blister and avoid contact with this fluid.  There is a risk of spreading the virus to other people, or to other parts of the body.

Is Freezing a Wart Effective?
If you freeze warts using cryotherapy you can expect a success rate of between 30% and 65%.  This is close to the success rates found with other methods but because of the sgnificant negatives involved it is probably better to try some of the other methods first.  Many of them will not involve the same commitment of time, the pain or the expense of the freeze off wart remover.

What are the Alternatives to Liquid Nitrogen Warts Removal?
Before resorting to cryotherapy for warts removal, there are many cheaper and less painful treatments to consider.  While researching this subject I came across some terrible suggestions that I must warn you against.  Why go through the dangerous procedure of cutting or burning off a wart when there are very safe and easy alternatives that won't leave you with a scar and won't result in a visit to the emergency room!

A popular method at the moment is the use of duct tape, but this is not really practical for warts on visible parts of the body.  There are a number of natural treatments that have shown reasonable success such as castor oil, tea tree oil, banana skins, and garlic. With these it can be difficult to decide what is the most effective amount to use and how often.

There is a treatment you can make up yourself from items many of us will already have in our store cupboards that has been shown to be highly effective and it works in just a few days.