[Treatment of keloids by cryotherapy]

Cryotherapy was performed on 7 patients with 35 keloids of different pathogenesis. In 5 out of these patients, prior treatment with creams, radiotherapy, or excision followed by radiotherapy had failed. The keloids were frozen several times by contact with liquid nitrogen (40 to 90 sec). After bullous local reactions and crusted healing, the lesions gradually leveled down. Atrophic scars resulted after 1 to 8 treatments. Old keloids (2 to 8-year-old) showed good therapeutic response. No relapses were registered during the follow-up period of 3 month up to a year. Only one patient discontinued therapy, and a 10-year-old boy could not stand the initial pain of freezing. On account of our encouraging results and the low complication rate, we recommend cryotherapy in the treatment of old keloids.