Advertorial: Myths and Misconceptions around Toxins

Why incorporate cryotherapy into your clinic? From a business perspective, setting up a cryotherapy service is extremely rewarding as it can give your patients great satisfaction and can be extremely profitable and simple to set up, when you have the appropriate training.

Although there are other possible treatment approaches, such as lasers, for conditions like viral warts, seborrheic keratosis, sebaceous hyperplasia, haemangiomas and lentigo, cryotherapy can be a more economical option for you as a business.

Purchasing a dewar and canister costs about £2,000 and a year’s delivery of liquid nitrogen is around £400. I charge £150 for two treatments, which makes the system quickly profitable. After the initial consultation of around 20 minutes, the actual treatment takes only seconds and the follow-up consultation takes around 15 minutes, which I usually do a month later. Note that sometimes patients need repeat treatments and a second or third may be required.

Storage and handling of liquid nitrogen is straightforward and as long as you have a safe, locked, vented area in your clinic, it is reasonable to store the dewar there.11 Filling the canister reservoir requires gloves and eye protection, but is easy and quick. A good protocol for storage has been compiled by North Devon Hospitals.18

particularly important for pigmented lesions because a white centre and a pigmented edge can otherwise form. With most benign lesions, a single freeze thaw cycle, rather than several in one treatment, is all that is required. Other methods that can be used are cotton buds and artery forceps dipped in liquid nitrogen, or the use of a solid probe, which contacts the lesion directly. Repeat treatment intervals vary.21

Summary I have found my cryotherapy equipment very useful as part of my clinic treatment portfolio and it’s a particularly good additional profit stream. When looking to offer this service in your clinic, the key point is that all skin lesions require a correct diagnosis before treatment; never treat if you do not know the diagnosis of the lesion and do not have sufficient training. It is important to be familiar with the equipment that you purchase, use the correct treatment protocol for the lesion, and ensure you obtain informed consent from your patient.

Dr Paul Charlson is the president of the British College of Aesthetic Medicine. He has worked as a GPwER in dermatology for 14 years and is an assessor for the Royal College of General Practitioners with Extended Roles accreditation panel. Dr Charlson is a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners, and has Diplomas in Practical Dermatology and Occupational Medicine. He has several clinics providing cryotherapy and scar treatment as part of a wider aesthetic portfolio.

REFERENCES

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Association of Dermatologists & The Department of Health. <http://www.bad.org.uk/library-media/ documents/Dermatology%20Standards%20FINAL%20-%20July%202011.pdf> 4. Models of Integrated Service Delivery in Dermatology, Dermatology Workforce Group Date: January 2007. <http://www.bad.org.uk/shared/get-file.ashx?itemtype=document&id=1610> 5. Weedon D., Skin Pathology. 3rd ed. London, Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 2010. 6. BAD, Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) <http://www.bad.org.uk/for-the-public/patient-informationleaflets/cryotherapy/> 7. Jacob G Unger, MD Resident Physician, Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Texas

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Arch Dermatol. 2000;136(7):841-846. 19. Simin Shamsi Meymandi, Mahmood Moosazadeh, and Azadeh Rezazadehc, Comparing Two

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