Where To Buy Liquid Nitrogen- Wart Remover

[Svenn]

If you have warts or corns or some other growth, you end up having to pay the doctor like 2000 baht just to dip a Q-tip in liquid nitrogen and dab it on the growth.

I saw an ad on tv for a remover you can buy and apply yourself that has liquid nitrogen in it, as I assume l-nitrogen is really hard to find in BKK or any other place... anybody remember the name of this product and where you can get it?

[Crushdepth]

If you don't want to pay the doctor I suggest you just buy a chemical wart killer from a pharmacy, very cheap and safe, but takes a while. Trying to apply liquid nitrogen to yourself would be a very bad idea!

It's worth 2,000 baht to have a specialist do the liquid nitrogen IMHO - much faster and relatively pain free.

[FBN]

There are no commercial "liquid nitrogen wart remover" products that you can buy over the counter. Only certain certified commercial gas companies deals with it. Liquid Nitrogen boils at minus 80C. It requires a special pressurised container to keep it safe and from evaporating and freezing anything in the way. The applicators used by skin specialists and the like are specially designed for this purpose and is safe and effective.

To buy a sufficient volume of liquid to Q-tip one wart, if that may be possible, will cost substantially more than a visit to a specialist (...with no risk to yourself and any innocent bystanders...)

[katana]

At atmospheric pressure, nitrogen boils at -196 C. Physics and chemistry departments in universties often have tanks of liquid nitrogen, the liquid nitrogen being transported from the tank to the labs in Dewar flasks ie the flasks you keep your soup hot in. There is a slow "boiling-off" of the nitrogen and it can last for a few hours in an unsealed flask.

Still, due to it's low temperature, it's quite dangerous stuff to living cells and DIY wart removal with a cotton bud is most probably not a good idea.

Edited January 26, 2009 by katana

[pumpuiman]

Here's one brand in the U.S. wart freeze

Or if you prefer....

How It Works

1. Warts are fed by blood vessels. If you can damage and kill these blood vessels by freezing them, the wart will die. Eventually it will fall off. Liquid nitrogen is cold enough to bring about this localized freezing. We want to restrict the tissue damage to the smallest possible area.

2. A blister will develop a few hours after freezing the wart. The wart will be raised slightly, redden, and you may feel a slight burning sensation.

3. Do not break the blister. If the blister breaks, tissue underneath is likely to be re-infected so that the wart grows back.

4. If you freeze the wart just the right amount, a small but visible blister will form. After some number of days, you will notice a reddish tint inside. Slowly the fluid of the blister will be re-absorbed. The blister will change to a darker color. As it dries out the skin will seem thicker.

5. Resist the temptation to pull off the dead skin. If you do, the wart is more likely to grow back. Just wait and wait. Even if you always pick you scabs and squeeze your pimples, you can learn to wait in order to be free of your warts. When the dead skin and dried up wart core sloughs off, you will have closed healthy skin below.

6. An advantage of this technique is that when done properly, the outer layer of skin is never broken, greatly reducing the infection risk compared to other techniques.

Procuring the Liquid Nitrogen

1. This is easier than it sounds. Look in the phone book for suppliers of welding gases. Call them and ask if they can supply you with a small amount. If they ask for the reason, just say it is for a science experiment, which is truthful.

2. Their next questions will be how much you need, and whether you have a Dewar Flask to transport it. The answers are "one litre" and "yes." A common vacuum flask (i.e. Thermos) will serve as your Dewar Flask and is a perfectly acceptable storage vessel for liquid nitrogen. Any quart-capacity vacuum-type glass or metal thermos will do.

3. You may as well use the cheapest one you can find, because sometimes the liquid nitrogen leaves a stinky residue behind.

4. When you go to the gas supplier, be sure to act nonchalant. It will be easy because they will also be very casual. It is no big deal to them, because compared to the other gases they handle, liquid nitrogen isn't much danger. You can expect to pay less than $10. Many places will give it to you for free.

5. There is only two precautions you need to remember to transport your liquid nitrogen safely home:

6. Close the thermos using only a giant wad of paper towels. If you want to use a screw-on cap to hold the paper towels in place, be sure you screw it on loosely. You must allow the vaporizing gases to escape or your thermos will become a bomb.

7. Keep the thermos upright.

8. If you follow these steps your liquid nitrogen will make it safely home. You can keep it just like that for a couple days if necessary. Obviously if your friends have warts they want to get rid of, they can take advantage of your supply.

Preparations

1. Probably you want to observe basic hygiene, even though you are not planning to break the skin. Wash thoroughly.

2. Before beginning, spend plenty of time looking at the wart. Pinch in the skin from the sides and below, so you can get an idea exactly how deep the core goes and how big around it is. Not the dead shell on top, the living core inside. Pinch it and feel exactly how big it is underneath. If it's on the bottom of your foot, it may just appear as a small bump, but the core goes in much deeper. This first step is important, because you need to know how much tissue to freeze.

3. To apply the liquid nitrogen, use a regular cotton bud (i.e. Q-tip). You may like to tie or wire it on a longer stick for dipping into the thermos.

4. You can also twist the tip of the Q-tip to make it a little pointier. As you get more experienced, you may want to tie some extra cotton wool around the base of the cotton bud to hold extra liquid nitrogen, which will save you from having to revisit the thermos so often.

Applying the Liquid Nitrogen

1. Pour a small amount of the liquid nitrogen into a polystyrene cup. Don't dip the Q-tip directly in the thermos, because you may contaminate it with viruses which can survive deep freezing and may spread more warts, especially if more than one person shares the flask. Let's assume it's a small wart. Apply the Q-tip right in the middle of the wart. Start with a light pressure. Apply the Q-tip several times, until you start to see a frozen zone--it will be white in color. What's tricky is that while it may be frozen white on the surface, you need to think about how deeply it is frozen. So keep applying the liquid nitrogen, doing it in such a way to keep the frozen zone from spreading into the healthy skin around the wart. As you freeze into the core of the wart, you'll be using a bit more pressure. You'll notice that the tissue has hardened, and if you pinch from the sides you will feel that there is frozen tissue between your fingers.

2. After the wart seems frozen enough, give it rest. The color will slowly return. If you think it may not have been frozen deeply enough, you can repeat the process. There will be some minor spikes of cold pain. In general, the cold deadens the nerves, so it isn't bad. Obviously any major pain is a sign you're doing too much.

3. Put a bandage (i.e. Band-Aid, sticking plaster if you're British) over the wart to protect it if you like.

4. If the wart is bigger, you may try just freezing half of it the first time, and then do the rest in a few weeks' time. You want to keep the damage small enough so that your body can heal it safely, without infection, even if the blister breaks, opening the skin. Obviously if the wart is very big you may want to do it in more stages. Or just go to a doctor.

5. If you have a bunch of warts, you can do them all at once. You may need to repeat the procedure later for any warts that come back, but now you will be experienced. It is easy and cheap.

[bobo42]

Here's one brand in the U.S. wart freeze

Just FYI, those wart freezing products sold OTC in the US are NOT the same as liquid nitrogen. They use a gas pressure differential cooling effect. Same type of effect that makes a pressurized "air-duster" can get very cold when you spray it. This can create very cold temperatures, but not as cold as liquid nitrogen and not as effective. If you can get an MD (or reasonable facsimile) to do it for 2k baht, that is probably the more reliable and cost effective method.

[Hairy]

You can also just buy a chip of dry ice (frozen CO2) and use that. More easily handled than LN2, since it's a solid chunk. You can use gloves or a folded paper towel, bang it around until you break it into a piece that is pointy, and touch the point to your wart.

Beware of freezing too much, which will cause scarring. Firsthand experience there.

[benjamat]

There are a nuber of products available over the counter at chemists in the uk.

I suspect that they are not actually liquid nitrogen but do the same thing, freeze the area and kill.

I had to apply 2/3 times but did the job.

Dont remember name but can google I am sure.

[hhgz]

"I suspect that they are not actually liquid nitrogen..."

You're absolutely correct. They aren't actually liquid nitrogen.

[Soboringtochooseaname]

Hi,

Do you know a cheaper place than hospital dermatologist with nitrogen or anything to freeze warts around Bkk or Pattaya ?

Thanks.

[Sheryl]

Dr. Parichart at St. Louis Hospital is quite reasonable in her charge for this. For a single lesion, certainly under 2,000 baht. Closer to 1,000. .

I had multikpe "age spots" frozen off by her, taking about 30 minutes and involving many spots and a large amount of the spray, that was about 2,000. For just one wart, probably not more than half that.

And she knows what she's doing...in terms of what the lesion actually is (self diagnosis not always being correct!) and how to minimize scarring.

[sinbin]

A government hospital should be able to burn them off for next to nothing.

[Somtamnication]

And, by going to a specialist, check for cancer, as well.

[sinbin]

I've already posted this on a previous thread. I had a wart that needed removing on my lower abdomen. I went to my local government hospital. Due to the size, the doctor didn't want to burn it off. She cut it out after numbing the area with an injection. I had a few stitches and given antibiotics. All done in under an hour.The wart was sent off for biopsy. Total cost was just 700 Baht, or so. The result of the biopsy was negative, and the doctor said, on that basis the rest of my warts could be burned off.

There is no need for a specialist to get a biopsy done. The specialist doesn't do the biopsy. It goes to the same place as per the government hospital, but cost a lot more.

[Tomissan]

Dr. Parichart at St. Louis Hospital is quite reasonable in her charge for this. For a single lesion, certainly under 2,000 baht. Closer to 1,000. .

I had multikpe "age spots" frozen off by her, taking about 30 minutes and involving many spots and a large amount of the spray, that was about 2,000. For just one wart, probably not more than half that.

And she knows what she's doing...in terms of what the lesion actually is (self diagnosis not always being correct!) and how to minimize scarring.

Hi Sheryl,

Can you tell me where St. Louis Hospital is please. I live in Isaan and after thorough checking, liquid nitrogen and/or treatment isn't available up here and all recommended Bangkok.

Would appreciate very much location information and if possible, Dr. Parichart's telephone number.

Thanks very much - in advance....Tomissan

[Sheryl]

Hi Sheryl,

Can you tell me where St. Louis Hospital is please. I live in Isaan and after thorough checking, liquid nitrogen and/or treatment isn't available up here and all recommended Bangkok.

Would appreciate very much location information and if possible, Dr. Parichart's telephone number.

Thanks very much - in advance....Tomissan

It's on Sathorn in Bangkok

http://www.saintlouis.or.th/main_page.php

[Tomissan]

Hi Sheryl,

Can you tell me where St. Louis Hospital is please. I live in Isaan and after thorough checking, liquid nitrogen and/or treatment isn't available up here and all recommended Bangkok.

Would appreciate very much location information and if possible, Dr. Parichart's telephone number.

Thanks very much - in advance....Tomissan

It's on Sathorn in Bangkok

http://www.saintlouis.or.th/main_page.php

Thanks for the info. On their website they have a 'Doctor' lookup but nothing for Dr. Parichart.

For many expats living in Thailand it's quite helpful when another expat has a need for good and current information, especially when it's medical related.

In your post you seemed to have very high regards for this doctor ("Dr. Parichart at St. Louis Hospital is quite reasonable in her charge for this, And she knows what she's doing") which is why I asked for contact numbers or information how to get in touch with her.

Anyway, thanks for even answering.

Now, is there anyone reading this who has (preferably) first hand experience or knowledge of someone in Khon Kaen who uses Liquid Nitrogen ? A name & phone number would be great....thanks

[Sheryl]

If you go to "Clinic" and then "Dermatology" and then click on online appointment the doctors names will appear including hers.

The St Louis website is odd that way

[Kenneth White]

On 1/27/2009 at 4:02 AM, pumpuiman said:

Here's one brand in the U.S. wart freeze

Or if you prefer....

Here it is 2022. Just recently I have been searching for a place to purchase liquid nitrogen close to me. You have given me a lot to think about however I must pursue this. I travel to Khon Kean every two to three months to get cryotherapy for many Actinic Keratosis, I am 73 and have so many Keratosis that it is becoming a real concern for me. As we know Keratosis will lead to Basal cell Carcinomas and Squamous cell Carcinoma. The doctor is very good but I need to take some steps on my own behalf to at least try to manage my Keratosis. Thank you for a well written informative post.

[jaideedave]

On 1/27/2009 at 4:05 PM, benjamat said:

There are a nuber of products available over the counter at chemists in the uk.

I suspect that they are not actually liquid nitrogen but do the same thing, freeze the area and kill.

I had to apply 2/3 times but did the job.

Dont remember name but can google I am sure.

Scholls has a product for wart removal available at some pharmacies. Works great...only a couple days for it to work.

[grain]

On 11/23/2011 at 9:13 AM, Tomissan said:

Hi Sheryl,

Can you tell me where St. Louis Hospital is please. I live in Isaan and after thorough checking, liquid nitrogen and/or treatment isn't available up here and all recommended Bangkok.

Would appreciate very much location information and if possible, Dr. Parichart's telephone number.

Thanks very much - in advance....Tomissan

If you live anywhere near Khon Kaen you certainly can get liquid nitrogen treatment at Srinakarin or KK Ram hospitals. I go there often to see Dr. Charoen Choonhakarn to freeze off sun/age spots and other pre-cancer spots. A 10-minute consultation where he freezes 10-20 spots costs me 1100 Bt at Srinakarin Government Hospital.

[lopburi3]

51 minutes ago, Kenneth White said:

Here it is 2022. Just recently I have been searching for a place to purchase liquid nitrogen close to me. You have given me a lot to think about however I must pursue this. I travel to Khon Kean every two to three months to get cryotherapy for many Actinic Keratosis, I am 73 and have so many Keratosis that it is becoming a real concern for me. As we know Keratosis will lead to Basal cell Carcinomas and Squamous cell Carcinoma. The doctor is very good but I need to take some steps on my own behalf to at least try to manage my Keratosis. Thank you for a well written informative post.

Can you provide the Khon Kean doctor using cryotherapy?  Several posters in this thread appear to want that information.

[grain]

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

Can you provide the Khon Kean doctor using cryotherapy?  Several posters in this thread appear to want that information.

See my post above. Dr. Charoen, you can Google him for further info. He's at Srinakarin (gov hospital) and KK Ram (expensive private hospital) I see him at Srinakarin, usually a wait of around 1 hour, costs me about 1100 Bt a treatment every couple of month. You can also see him at KK Ram and probably only wait 15-20 minutes and pay around 4000 Bt for the same treatment.

[lopburi3]

2 hours ago, grain said:

See my post above. Dr. Charoen, you can Google him for further info. He's at Srinakarin (gov hospital) and KK Ram (expensive private hospital) I see him at Srinakarin, usually a wait of around 1 hour, costs me about 1100 Bt a treatment every couple of month. You can also see him at KK Ram and probably only wait 15-20 minutes and pay around 4000 Bt for the same treatment.

Sorry was asking Kennith White post as it appears he has a doctor treating him in KK.

[Jimbo53]

On 1/26/2009 at 8:19 PM, katana said:

At atmospheric pressure, nitrogen boils at -196 C. Physics and chemistry departments in universties often have tanks of liquid nitrogen, the liquid nitrogen being transported from the tank to the labs in Dewar flasks ie the flasks you keep your soup hot in. There is a slow "boiling-off" of the nitrogen and it can last for a few hours in an unsealed flask.

Still, due to it's low temperature, it's quite dangerous stuff to living cells and DIY wart removal with a cotton bud is most probably not a good idea.

Correct!!

Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) is not a substance that should be played around with,it should only be used in a controlled environment by experienced trained personnel using the appropriate PPE.

[KhunLA]

5 hours ago, Kenneth White said:

Here it is 2022. Just recently I have been searching for a place to purchase liquid nitrogen close to me. You have given me a lot to think about however I must pursue this. I travel to Khon Kean every two to three months to get cryotherapy for many Actinic Keratosis, I am 73 and have so many Keratosis that it is becoming a real concern for me. As we know Keratosis will lead to Basal cell Carcinomas and Squamous cell Carcinoma. The doctor is very good but I need to take some steps on my own behalf to at least try to manage my Keratosis. Thank you for a well written informative post.

If you live in Udon Thani area, there is / was a doc there that still used liquid nitrogen, as I popped every so often for check up and a dab here and there.  Inexpensive also.  http://tiny.cc/1qwpuz 

Edited March 23, 2022 by KhunLA

[grain]

53 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Sorry was asking Kennith White post as it appears he has a doctor treating him in KK.

I also have a doctor treating me in KK. That's why I passed on some useful info to you. 

[Sheryl]

2 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Sorry was asking Kennith White post as it appears he has a doctor treating him in KK.

Dr. Charoen is in KK

[Kenneth White]

21 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Can you provide the Khon Kean doctor using cryotherapy?  Several posters in this thread appear to want that information.

Srinagarind Hospital, Dr. Suteeraporn. She is very good.

[VocalNeal]

I would use the chemical option but if you must then 

 

 

 

 

Most electronic repair shops will have an equivalent. When I have been to the doctors they use a small funnel to surround the wart.