How does freezing a wart with liquid nitrogen kill it?
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You’re basically creating frostbite in the wart and in the immediate vicinity.
As cells freeze, the ice crystals rupture the cell wall, killing the cells.
On the 0.5cm x 0.5cm area of the wart, these cells die, a blister is formed and your body heals.
Some warts will reappear presumably because the wart was left with a viable “root” that wasn’t damaged.
Repeated treatments may be necessary to kill off the wartogenic cells.
You’re trying to create a blister under the wart, using the cold of liquid nitrogen to do it (sort of like frostbiting the wart). Once the blister forms, you can remove the wart (and the associated dead skin) and just have a popped blister on otherwise healthy skin.
Cells are like bags of water. The wart is like a bunch of those bags filled with dirty water. Freezing it turns the water to ice and pops the bag (since ice is bigger than water). Then your body makes some new bags to replace the damaged area.
Two fold. The freezing damages the cells and causes them to explode. The inflammation in the area tells your immune system to go to work. This alerts the immune system to the wart.
If you have an active wart, that means that your immune system doesn’t detect the wart, allowing it to grow undisturbed. Your immune system is usually usually capable of defeating a wart. Inflaming the surrounding tissue can initiate an immune response to the wart, which ultimately kills it. Destroying/damaging much of the wart itself gives it a big boost too.
The liquid nitrogen causes frostbite and irritates and/or kills tissue in the area. They can also do this with acid or burning, but liquid nitrogen is relatively quick, safe, and less painful.
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