title: Clinical practice trends in cryosurgery: a retrospective study of cutaneous lesions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cryosurgery is an alternative treatment for many benign, premalignant, and malignant lesions of the skin.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To review the indications of cryosurgery for cutaneous lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  The retrospective study was based on the assessment of medical records of 1031 dermatology patients who had cryosurgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One thousand two hundred and forty-four sessions of cryosurgery were applied to the total of 1031 patients. Of the 1031 patients, the most frequent indication for cryosurgery was common warts which were present in 535 (61.59%) patients, followed by anogenital warts in 119 (11.54%) patients, callosity in 81 (7.85%) patients, actinic keratosis in 77 (7.46%) patients, molluscum contagiosum in 35 (3.39%) patients, and other benign or malignant skin lesions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cryosurgery is still a valuable treatment of choice in various benign, premalignant, and malignant skin diseases but seems to be underused for indications other than viral warts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ataturk Research and Training Hospital, Izmir, Turkey. Head of the Department: Assoc. Prof. Fatma Sule Afsar MD.
authors.forename: Fatma Sule
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Afsar
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ataturk Research and Training Hospital, Izmir, Turkey. Head of the Department: Assoc. Prof. Fatma Sule Afsar MD.
authors.forename: Ceren Dagar
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Erkan
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Katip Celebi University, School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey. Head of the Department: Prof. Semsettin Karaca MD.
authors.forename: Semsettin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karaca
keywords: cryosurgery; diagnosis; indication; skin