Cryotherapy for basal cell carcinoma should be avoided in high-risk areas of the face, according to updated clinical guidelines released this week.

Cancer Council Australia’s clinical practice guidelines for keratinocyte skin cancers (formerly called non-melanoma skin cancers) have been updated — for the first time in more than a decade — and endorsed by the NHMRC. 

The cryotherapy section, written by dermatologists, states that the treatment can achieve equivalent outcomes to surgical excision in patients with small (less than 2cm), superficial basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) at sites other than the face or ears and in less pigmented skin types.

The authors add that cryotherapy is not recommended for high-risk facial sites — such as the lips, alar creases, inner canthi and periauricular regions — because it achieves lower cure rates.