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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/26/salon-worker-praised-cryotherapy-then-froze-to-death-during-treatment/

Out of all of this, the biggest news to me is that she froze to death in seconds. Just... flash-frozen...

I'm curious about the seperatel dress codes for men or women going into the chamber. Is the treatment supposed to be affected someway by wearing a tshirt or not?
Snake Oil and rainbows, I say!

There are two possible causes of death - the cold, and oxygen deprivation (if the cryotherapy clinic uses nitrogen and not refrigeration to produce the necessary cold temperatures). Neither one would have killed her instantaneously, but she probably lost consciousness and thus lost the ability to remove herself from the chamber.

On a more general level, the cause of death was that she used the cryotherapy equipment without any person or device available to rescue her when she lost consciousness. If it is a single user chamber a deadman switch could have saved her, but couldn't be made foolproof without adversely affecting the operation of the machine.

Indeed. Such a device should never be used without supervision. Even if she didn't lose consciousness immediately the cold could have caused her to lose all ability to remove herself from the machine.

This seems like gross operator error by someone who should have known better.

The whole thing just sounds like a very bad idea to me. Anyone who subjects themselves to this is asking for trouble. I am sorry someone actually died; my condolences to the family.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
The whole thing just sounds like a very bad idea to me. Anyone who subjects themselves to this is asking for trouble.

I wouldn't go that far. I doubt its effectiveness when not being used to treat joint and muscle pain, but assuming your extremities are protected from the cold it's only dangerous the same way a swimming pool is dangerous.

Its got applications for sure, but its not the cure all that some people claim it is.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Its got applications for sure, but its not the cure all that some people claim it is.

This statement can be applied to virtually any situation where general claims of cure-allness are being made, and remain accurate.

Cryotherapy as a BEAUTY TREATMENT?

Give this woman a Darwin award.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 AlexHolker wrote:

 ZergSmasher wrote:
The whole thing just sounds like a very bad idea to me. Anyone who subjects themselves to this is asking for trouble.

I wouldn't go that far. I doubt its effectiveness when not being used to treat joint and muscle pain, but assuming your extremities are protected from the cold it's only dangerous the same way a swimming pool is dangerous.

The description of the device says that it is used to expose people wearing nothing but their underwear to -240 degree temperatures. Pretty sure that falls under the "monumentally stupid" category of behavior.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
The whole thing just sounds like a very bad idea to me. Anyone who subjects themselves to this is asking for trouble. I am sorry someone actually died; my condolences to the family.

Cyro treatment has been part of conventional medicine for some time now. A good example is freezing of verucas which involves dripping liquid nitrogen on the wart.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Warts/Pages/Treatment.aspx
You can have warts frozen off by the NHS in the UK. It's not quack medicine. Its good method for certain skin treatments, and as wart removal is mostly cosmetic surgery it is not illogical that cryo therapy has links to beauty treatment.

Unsupervised self treatment is the problem, not necessarily the technique.

 Orlanth wrote:

 ZergSmasher wrote:
The whole thing just sounds like a very bad idea to me. Anyone who subjects themselves to this is asking for trouble. I am sorry someone actually died; my condolences to the family.

Cyro treatment has been part of conventional medicine for some time now. A good example is freezing of verucas which involves dripping liquid nitrogen on the wart.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Warts/Pages/Treatment.aspx
You can have warts frozen off by the NHS in the UK. It's not quack medicine. Its good method for certain skin treatments, and as wart removal is mostly cosmetic surgery it is not illogical that cryo therapy has links to beauty treatment.

Unsupervised self treatment is the problem, not necessarily the technique.

I don't think dripping a tiny drop of liquid N2 on a wart is a problem; but subjecting your entire body to that temperature is just unsafe. The human body is simply not built to withstand that kind of cold. Some people's bodies might be okay for short periods, whereas others might be in serious trouble within seconds. The point is, it just seems very dangerous (and there are probably safer alternative treatments for what cryotherapy is used for). It's kind of like a daredevil sport, and perhaps the danger factor is what makes it so attractive to some people.

Well, I could see there possibly being some benefit to briefly exposing your entire skin to the temperatures for similar reasons it works on warts. But in a controlled environment and only for a second or two, and always under observation.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Well, I could see there possibly being some benefit to briefly exposing your entire skin to the temperatures for similar reasons it works on warts.

Absolutely not. The reason cryosurgery works on warts is because it freezes and destroys cells. If cryotherapy used as extreme temperatures as cryosurgery did it would not be beneficial - not unless being flayed alive is your idea of a good time.

I was thinking more along the lines of some sort of mass exfoliation or something. Getting your body to slough off all the dead cells that might be causing your skin to get cloudy or something. Maybe I'm totally off base here, I don't know the first thing about silly beauty treatments or something. Seems unnatural.

So, cryotherapy is a thing now? Interesting to know. If they're using it in beauty salons and not hospitals though, one has to wonder.

 AlexHolker wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Well, I could see there possibly being some benefit to briefly exposing your entire skin to the temperatures for similar reasons it works on warts.

Absolutely not. The reason cryosurgery works on warts is because it freezes and destroys cells. If cryotherapy used as extreme temperatures as cryosurgery did it would not be beneficial - not unless being flayed alive is your idea of a good time.

Absolutely:

From the NHS website the side effects of cryotreatment is shown, one of them is skin repigmentation 'benefits'. Destroying cells and exfoliation are just about the same thing, cells are replaced on the skin constantly careful treatment could have desired results.

Doctors use scalpels for surgery, this doesn't mean unsupervised knife work on oneself is smart outside of the direst emergencies.

I dont know if the particular treatment unit in the OP is workable. But using liquid nitrogen on human skin for medical reasons is. There are too many misuses of beauty therapy, a lot goes wrong with botox or when people go 'under the knife', a lot could go wrong with liquid nitrogen too. This doesnt invalidate the entire sub-industry.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Torga_DW wrote:
So, cryotherapy is a thing now? Interesting to know. If they're using it in beauty salons and not hospitals though, one has to wonder.

Whole body cryotherapy has been in hospitals since the 70's, wart treatment a lot longer. It's use in salons is what may be new, and salons are indicatively not highly regulated.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/cryotherapy-how-being-exposed-to-antarctica-like-temperatures-is-surprisingly-tolerable-a6715706.html