# burned off or frozen off?



## James S (Sep 21, 2005)

Hey Folks,

For just about my entire adult life I've had one of these on my leg. They aren't dangerous or cancerous or anything to worry about, but it's always getting irritated by my pants and I have to keep my QIII in the other pocket or it bangs it and it hurts  so it's time to consider getting it cut out!

The description of burning it out via electricity doesn't seem very appetizing to me! I think I'd rather have it frozen. But I've never had either of these done or have anybody here to ask specifically about it.

Have you guys had thingies or warts or whatever burned or frozen off? How was it? Share your horror stories


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## Silviron (Sep 21, 2005)

I've had a few things frozen off my head... no big deal. Doesn't hurt. Itches a bit as the nerves 'wake up' and healing gets under way.

My main complaint was I looked like a Leperfor a few days..... On your leg, that shouldn't be a problem.


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## metalhed (Sep 21, 2005)

Piece o' cake!!

I've had a couple of small moles frozen off my neck area with liquid nitrogen. Stings a little, but nothing too bad. The area will appear blackened at first, but it heals very quickly.

If these are causing you pain, then definitely have them removed.

BTW, thanks for posting this. I have some of these that cause no pain or symptoms...always wondered what they were...now I know!


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## was_jlh (Sep 21, 2005)

there are home freeze-off kits now that work well for small skin tags, warts, etc.


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## BB (Sep 21, 2005)

I have done electical on a wart or two... Sounds scary--a little buzz and smell (BBQ without the sauce)--but nothing you can't handle.

I have also used the wart remover from the drug stores... Does work but I had to use it over a course of several months (every day, with a few days break every so often) for it to work through a deep wart.

Assuming that you have identified the problem and solution--I have seen (but not tried) home freezing kits for warts in a couple of drug stores. That, or your own liquid Nitrogen would probably be cheaper than a doctor's appointment.

However, as easy as it appears to do your self--I am sure that the doctor's here on CPF can give you some warning and pointers about what's best. And whether or not it is really a do-it-your-self project.

-Bill


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## evan9162 (Sep 21, 2005)

When I was 15, I had a large wart (size of a pencil erasor) on my right thumb nestled right against the right side of the nail. I had it frozen off.

Worst. Pain. Ever.

The freezing its self was painless. The next 5 hours were agony. Every hand movement resulted in pain shooting up my arm. I did bump it a couple times, which resulted in me getting light headed.

It took 4 treatments like that to get rid of it comlpetely. 

When I was about 6, I had a wart on my heel. They deadened it first with a local, then used what looked like a soldering iron to burn it off. Being a young-in, the worst part of the whole ordeal was getting the anisthetic shot (oh boy, did I hate that), but there was absoltely no pain after that. It fell off about a week later, leaving me wondering if there was a "wart fairy".


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## bwaites (Sep 21, 2005)

I remove hundreds of lesions a year.

Cryotherapy works fine for skin tags, or other non-vascular lesions.

However, for a hypervascular lesion like a cherry angiomas or strawberry angiomas electrodessication works better. I always anesthetize these with a small lidocaine injection before I perform the procedure.

Cryotherapy works by freezing and destroying the cell, with really good blood flow, you may not be able to freeze the cells well enough to cause destruction, thus the reason for using electrodessication. Cryo will do it eventually, but may require more treatments. 

Hypertonic saline can also destroy angiomas, but electrodessication is faster.

Bill


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## IsaacHayes (Sep 21, 2005)

Apart from having a tiny smaller than pin head one of these, I had a large pencil eraser-sized one on my right shoulder after I snapped my right arm in half. (yes that was very painfull, and gross to see your arm folded in half). It appeared around a year after I broke my arm. They say if you have one appear like that it's usually from a traumatic experience and on the side of your body that it happened. Both true for me. They said it was large enough that it should of been ripped open by my shirt and bleeding.

The skin doctor burned mine off with a soldering pencil type deal. A numbing shot and some burnt flesh smell later and it was off. Actually I think they cut it off, then seared around the edges. They sent it off to make sure it wasn't cancerous.

It stayed gone after that. I have a scar a bit bigger than a BB now there, but it's just a round dot. Can hardly tell. That was when I was in 4th/5th grade.


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## eluminator (Sep 21, 2005)

I'd go to a good dermatologist. I've found two in the last few years. I was referred to the first one by another physician. He seemed to use only liquid nitrogen on warts. There was almost no pain at all. No needle either. Needles bother me more than pain. 

I got lucky with the second dermatologist. I just picked one I found on the internet that was reasonably close and wasn't booked solid for a month or two. He seemed to be more selective and gave me reasons why he'd do or not do one thing or another. When it's on a finger he's concerned about colateral damage to the nerves or the joint or something. Or maybe he's just a worry wart. As an added bonus I discovered much to my surprise that my niece worked for him. 

He removed a wart on my thumb with the "soldering iron" thing. No pain there either but of course he gave me a shot first. When I saw the gadget he was using I said I could have done it with my soldering iron. He said "Yes, if you could stand the pain". Good point there. 

I also had a skin cancer sliced off by the first dermatologist which is how I discovered dermatologists in the first place. That was a knife job but again no pain because of the shot. He must have been pretty good with that scalpel. A really neat job actually. It was on my thumb, but I didn't watch him do it.

It amazes me that after a doctor slices and dices me, I feel no pain after the anesthetic wears off. When I was a kid I had my appendix removed. When I woke up I looked down and saw the bandages. I couldn't figure out how I could be sliced open and then sewn back up and there wasn't any pain afterwards. I still can't figure that out. 

I nominate anesthetics as the greatest invention ever. It's got to be way better than biting on a bullet.

I was never able to remove a wart with the drugstore salicylic acid stuff. I'm surprised to hear someone had success. Maybe I didn't keep it up long enough or maybe that particular wart was hard to kill. Some seem to grow faster than others.


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## BB (Sep 21, 2005)

I applied the stuff a couple times a day and actively removed the dead skin underneath. Also, after one course of treatment (about 1 month or so), I let it heal only to find the wart was back (on my knuckle). Did another month or so, and it is still gone today.

I am sure that once to the doctor would have been much quicker and, overall, less painful.

-Bill


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## Saaby (Sep 22, 2005)

I had 2 moles removed. Both knife jobs. No pain because of the shot. It was crazy though. I couldn't feel a thing, I couldn't see a thing (Drape was blocking my view) -- but I almost fainted! I felt kind of stupid. Guess my body knew it was being attacked.

The doctor let me lay on the bed for a few minutes and after that I felt fine to drive home. (Not great, but like when you come out of the dentist.) When I got home though my mom said I was extremely pale and I didn't hear the end of it for weeks!


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## James S (Sep 22, 2005)

Thanks for the stories guys  This is not a wart and I dont think they respond to those other treatments, so I'm definitely off to the dermatologist for a consult. I'll make myself an appointment shortly and maybe post before and after picts  

Normally I'm not squeamish at all, but I was just sitting there looking at the thing imagining watching as someone took a knife or a soldering iron to it and nearly changed my mind about doing anything  I'm one of those people that prefers to watch while I get stuck by the needle or whatever so I know whats happening. Never understood how someone can want to not watch while somebody else does something nasty to you. Guess I'm just not the trusting kind...


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## IsaacHayes (Sep 22, 2005)

eluminator: I had my appendix take out when I was in 1st grade. Teacher wouldn't let me see the nurse and I was doubled over in pain the whole day!  I sure felt pain after I woke up, I was dry-heaving from the anesthetic and that made my stiches hurt! You didn't feel any pain afterwards! Ugh, lucky!

James: you'll be fine. You'll be thinking why didn't I get rid of this bothersome thign sooner?


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## eluminator (Sep 22, 2005)

Isaac, I had no pain, at least while I laid in bed. Thankfully I had no reaction to the anesthetic.

My appendix burst while it was being operated on, so they kept me in the hospital bed for a week and gave me a shot of penicillin every day. Fortunately I suffered no ill effects.

However I got tired of using the bed pan, so one day I decided to get out of bed and find a mens room. As soon as my legs hung over the side of the tall hospital bed, the strain in my belly caused considerable pain. So I abandoned that idea and lay back down.

The most memorable thing happened as I was being put unconscious with the anesthetic. This was in a small country hospital in 1952. Their equipment was probably crude compared to today. I was put on the operating table and both legs and one arm were strapped down. Until this point I wasn't the least bit anxious. Looking back, I guess I had been sedated. 

Then the nurse slapped a rag soaked with cloroform on my face. That's what it seemed like to me anyway. She said to breathe deeply. I took one breath and I couldn't bear to take another one. I felt like I was suffocating. I raised up as high as I could and screamed bloody murder. She removed the rag, and calmed me down. Then she replaced the rag and said to count to ten, or something like that. After one more breath I was losing consciousness quickly. As that happened, I got a painfully loud buzzing in my ears. I was scared. I could imagine suffering this very painful noise for an hour and not being able to do anything about it.

One second later I awoke back in my hospital bed. Of course it was more like an hour but it seemed like one second to me.


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## Saaby (Sep 22, 2005)

I got intravenous general anesthetic when I got my wisdom teeth out. Oral Surgeon let me know everything he was doing. He told me he was putting in a tranquilizer so I wouldn't be anxious, then something to prevent me from getting sick off the anesthesia. At this point I remarked "Bring it on."

Next thing I remember I was waking up and my cheeks were all swolen up :gag:


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## AJ_Dual (Sep 23, 2005)

Our second set of twin girls was delivered by C-Section this summer as one of them was breech. I got to watch the whole thing. I am the type who will avoid "gross stuff" if I can, but never seems to have a problem when confronted with it. It was my second time in the OR with my wife, as even though our first set of girls came out "the normal way" last year, the doc's and hospital required my wife deliver in the OR in case something went wrong.

The C-Section was amazing. I 've seen plenty of them on the medical documentary cable shows on Discover and TLC etc. but I've never seen the whole thing from beginning to end. After our daughters were out and squealing on the baby carts, I watched the OB and the Surgeon finish up on my wife. I had no idea they pull ALL of the woman's plumbing out and lay it on her stomach while they sew it up and check to be sure it's not bleeding and shrinking like it should!! 

I was going to take a picture of that with the digicam, but chickened out, thinking my wife would be mad at me. She later told me she'd have liked to see what it looked like, and was mildly dissapointed I didn't. Although, it was not a picture that was going in the photo album…. 

Then I watched with interest as they used the cauterpoint to seal off any small bleeders in the various layers of muscle and skin. The machine has the electrical probe, and it grounds out on the patient via a big silver patch stuck on the thigh, you could see the electrical arcs jumping from the probe into her tissues "cooking" as it went. It was wild to see.

I did all the usual "father stuff", hovered over my new daughters and took pictures, cut their cords, and tried to keep ducking behind the sheet at my wife's head to hold her hand, give support, and tell her what was going on, but I have to admit, I kind of slacked off in that department because I was so fascinated by the operation. I was eventually just staring over the sheet that shielded my wife's head, and limply holding her hand.

Fortunately, my wife thought the C-Section was such a breeze as compared to a regular delivery, she didn't care.


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