Cost-Effective Xanthelasma Treatment Techniques

Xanthelasma is a common skin condition where a soft, yellowish growth develops on or around the eyelids. This is nothing but cholesterol deposit that shows up on or near your eyelids. Xanthelasma, however, is not painful or itchy, but its presence might suggest that you have abnormal cholesterol levels or could also be an indicator of any liver disease. Xanthelasma may also develop in some person due to genetic reasons. Although there is no specific data on who might develop xanthelasma, it is observed in people of Asian or Mediterranean descent and is more in women as compared to men. There are various xanthelasma treatment techniques available.
People usually get it removed for cosmetic reasons and is probably the right thing to do, given there are some cost-effective xanthelasma treatment techniques available. Let’s have a look at some of these below –

Radio frequency technique

Radio frequency technique is a single session procedure that would help in complete removal of xanthelasma. This is a cost-effective technique and hence, quite popular too. Since the area of excision involves eyes, low ablative power is used to remove xanthelasma. On the hindsight, it has an effect on the removal technique and may act as a limitation is removing the xanthelasma patch completely.

Cryosurgery

While many people also favour this xanthelasma treatment technique, it carries a higher risk of damaging your eyes or leaving a scar after removal. Also, when it comes to recurrence of xanthelasma after removal, it ranks quite low and around one in every four people develops xanthelasma after this removal process. So, it is not quite a good method per se, but it is effective and costs lesser on your pockets, too.

Chemical cautery

Perhaps this is the safest methods developed as of now for xanthelasma treatment and is quite popular a method, especially in the UK. It is a low-cost and very effective process that treats your xanthelasma in up to 8 sessions. The only two shortcomings with this technique are that you may experience a severe burning sensation for about 5 minutes after a session. And as this method takes several sessions to remove completely xanthelasma, you have to face more pain and wait more for complete removal of xanthelasma.

Laser Surgery

Although it is one of the most costly xanthelasma treatment techniques and shouldn’t be mentioned in this post, people opt for this method; which shows its relevance in xanthelasma treatment. Xanthelasma can be removed in a single session but as we all know, laser technique is highly risky, and you should get it done by only the best in this domain. The laser can not only leave scars but also cause severe damage to your eyes, which includes permanent loss of vision. However, the positive aspect of this method is that is has a good removal rate, and only 12% have been reported for recurrence of xanthelasma after getting treated by laser technique.

Surgical excision

Even in this modern age, this oldest method of lesion removal remains a favorite choice for many. However, local anaesthesia is compulsory for this xanthelasma technique and is completely safe as there are high chances of bleeding, getting infected or scarring on the skin surface. Therefore, if one can afford the other modern xanthelasma treatment techniques for Xanthelasma removal, this method should be avoided.

As we have seen so far, each of the xanthelasma treatment techniques have its set of pros and cons, and thus, it is entirely up to you to go for the option that suits you (and your pockets) the best. You can get in touch with HP Dermatology Centre specialists to know more about xanthelasma treatment techniques and get personalised advice about your skin condition, now.