Cryotherapy for Benign Skin Lesions (CryoPen)

CryoPen cryotherapy is a precise, fast way to treat a range of benign (harmless) skin lesions, using an intensely cold jet of nitrous oxide directed exactly where it’s needed. Unlike traditional cryotherapy with a spray canister or cotton bud, the CryoPen delivers a very fine, controlled freezing point, so treatment stays tightly targeted to the lesion with minimal effect on the surrounding healthy skin.

How it works
The extreme cold destroys the targeted lesion tissue, triggering the body’s own healing response — the lesion then resolves naturally over the following weeks as the treated area heals.

What can be treated
- Skin tags
- Viral warts and verrucae
- Seborrhoeic keratoses
- Cherry angiomas
- Other benign lesions confirmed suitable at assessment

Every lesion is properly examined — using dermoscopy where needed — and confirmed as benign before any cryotherapy is carried out, in line with our mole and lesion assessment process (cross-link to the Mole Mapping page). Treating a lesion without that assessment first could risk masking something that actually needs investigating.

After treatment
The treated area typically reddens and may blister within a few hours. Over the following one to two weeks, a scab forms and sheds naturally as the skin heals underneath, usually without scarring, though some patients notice a temporary change in skin colour at the site. Discomfort during treatment is brief.