Is Cryotherapy Effective as a Therapeutic Option for Oral Lesion

Low-temperature applications were originally employed by the Egyptians to treat pain, and subsequently during the Franco-Prussian War for severed limbs. Hippocrates advocated the application of cold to lessen bruising, bleeding, and discomfort, while John Hunter wrote in 1777 that "the local tissue response to freezing includes local tissue necrosis, vascular stasis, and excellent healing." Using a solution of salt and ice, James Arnott (1851) was the first to describe and demonstrate this freezing technique for malignant breast tumors.

The term "cryotherapy" was used in 1908 to describe the use of extremely low temperatures to cure skin lesions. Currently, cryotherapy involves cooling the body's surface without destroying tissue, whereas in cryosurgery, sick tissues are frozen to death.

In the technique, several cryogens include: liquid nitroglycerine (-196 °C), Nitrous oxide (0°C), Solid CO2 (-78o C), Chlorodifluoromethane (-41°C), Dimethyl ether (-24 °C) and propane (-42 °C).

The intralesional technique, open method, or closed method can all be used to apply cryogens. The best application approach for big superficial cutaneous lesions is an open spray technique, in which the spray's nozzle is situated 1 cm away from the skin's surface, and the lesion is destroyed using either a paintbrush technique or a spiral technique.