Cryotherapy is a treatment where your healthcare provider applies extreme cold to freeze and destroy abnormal tissue. To create this severe cold, your provider will use a substance like liquid nitrogen or argon gas.

 

Cryotherapy can be used to treat a variety of skin conditions and some cancers, including prostate and liver cancer. This therapy can treat tissue externally (on the skin) and internally (inside the body).

 

This treatment can also be called cryoablation.

 

 

 

Cryotherapy is a hormetic stressor, much like exercise, sauna use, and fasting. This is good stress. The right amount of this stress makes you stronger.

 

Cryotherapy is a form of cold stress that has a lot of the same benefits as cold-water immersion, like ice baths and cold swims. The advantage that cryo has over cold-water immersion is the timing. 

 

Cryotherapy only needs 2-5 minutes to give you the benefit of cold exposure. On the contrary, people stay in an ice bath for about 10-15 minutes.