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Cryotherapy to treat verrucae in young children

Discussion in 'General Issues and Discussion Forum' started by nicholas, Oct 28, 2005.

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  1. nicholas

    nicholas Member


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    I have a friend whose child of 10 years of age has several verrucas that she has been self treating for over a year now with various treatments, silver nitrate, various caustic treatments and the very occational freezing with liquid nitrogen from her doctor but the verrucae are still there. She has now asked me if could treat them once and for all with a short effective course of freezing to finally get rid of them. Can anyone give me advice regarding the u.se of cryotherapy for verrucas in children, if it is an appropriate method of treatment in young children and if so the correct method to carry it out, number of applications, length of time nitrogen is applied to the skin and the time necessary between treatments
     
  2. DAVOhorn

    DAVOhorn Well-Known Member

    re kids pain and cryo

    Dear Nicholas,

    Why would you wish to keep attacking this poor child with a wide variety of painful t/t's for a condition that is self limiting and has a 90% regression rate with no t/t. :confused:

    MANY of the various t/t's have been tried to no effect. :mad:

    So lets up the ante and finish the poor kid off with a good COLD BURN. :eek:

    All joking aside.

    If the child understands what the t/t is and involves in the way of pain blistering tissue damage etc then cryo with liquid nitrogen can be administered to the child. :confused:

    Certainly at 11 years of age i had 30 warts cryo'd with liquid nitrogen. I was not impressed but i was able to tolerate it. :(

    So i used to use Liquid Nitrogen in the following manner.

    A:
    Use it a gas jet to directly freeze the VP. I used to do this for 10-20 secs depending on th size of VP. Then wait 3-5 minutes and repeat. Then 6 weeks later repeat the whole cycle. The advantage of this is that the heat exchange is reduced as the gas is above -190C so you do not get full freezing effect that cryo is capable of.

    B:
    Apply a blob of gel (K-Y) about the diameter of the VP to the VP and apply a probe with the diameter of the VP This enables a much more intense cold burn as the metal probe is attached to the VP via the gel medium. Freeze time is about 10 secs. Wait 3- mins and repeat. Then 6 weeks later repeat.
    Word of caution. Kiddy cannot withdraw foot from probe as attached by iceball.

    I also pull the iceball and thus VP away from the foot to reduce penetration nature of freeze. So reducing damage to underlying tissuse.

    Again a warning it takes a few seconds for the ice ball to melt so this can increase the iceball freeze markedly increasing risk of Blistering and Frost bite to the local tissues.

    So i ask again why would you suject this poor kid to the above? :eek:

    Especially when all else has failed.

    regards a Pod who no longer t/t's vp's

    David
     
  3. Bob Zucker

    Bob Zucker Welcome New Poster

    Cryotherapy & youngsters

    Over the years, I have found Cantharone to be very effective, especially with younger patients. Generally, they are too busy to noticed any discomfort, if any, after a treatment.

    Bob
     
  4. John Spina

    John Spina Active Member

    Be careful with that.That is an aggressive procedure to do on such a young child.
    For me,duct tape works well without the trauma.
     
  5. R.E.G

    R.E.G Active Member

    John

    While I totally agree with the 'non treatment' regime, what is the basis for 'Duck tape'?

    I thought that research had been discredited?

    OK I may be open to criticism, but I find Phenol is quite a good caustic for 'young' patients, if I am forced to treat.

    It produces no pain on application, in fact the opposite, and I have seen it rapidly 'reduce/resolve' the VP. I hesitate to say 'cure', hell we are talking about Vp's.

    Bob
     
  6. VBrewster

    VBrewster Welcome New Poster

    Hi

    Am very interested in your use of phenol on VP. Would love to know how you use it.

    Thanks

    Val
     
  7. R.E.G

    R.E.G Active Member

    Hi Val

    First be aware that the use of phenol by Pods in the UK along with many other 'medicaments' is under question.

    I'ts simple to use, debride the VP to tolerance, using scalpel or Moore's disc, depending on child, then apply using suitable applicator, cotton bud or orange stick till the VP surface blanches, or the wriggly foot becomes too wriggly!

    1 week return should see glassy brown surface, repeat.

    Should work quickly 2 3 weeks.

    You can cover with a plaster or SCF pad, and hope it sticks.

    I do not 'do' a lot of children so this is not based on a massive sample. Told to me by Alex Catto when Marigold did not work.

    Bob
     
  8. Wendy

    Wendy Active Member

    I would also question treating a child with vp's. I would only be willing to try anything if they had been there for more than 2 yrs and if they were painful - usually caused by a build up of overlying callus so only debride and give education on cause of vp.......
    I would not wish anything too traumatic on a child as they are likely to equate the pain caused with a visit to the pod (much like the dentist) so unlikely to visit one when really needed!
    Just my own thoughts on the matter
    Wendy
     
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