Dr. Sanjul Prakash Patel, MD

Asthma is a chronic lung disease where the tissue and airways of the lungs become extremely sensitive to certain substances. When these substances are breathed in, the lungs become inflamed. The muscles around the airways tighten and squeeze the lungs, and passages within the lungs swell and tighten. The airways themselves produce mucus, which further clogs the tightened, swollen airways. A person having an asthma attack finds it very difficult to breathe, and a severe attack can even be fatal.

Asthma affects people of all ages, but people with asthma are most often diagnosed as children. Symptoms can include wheezing, a tight feeling in the chest, shortness of breath, and coughing. Some people have mild symptoms all the time, and some people have no symptoms at all, but everyone with asthma is susceptible to occasional severe attacks or flare-ups of symptoms when they are exposed to triggers. Triggers vary widely but can include:

• Allergens (dust mites, pet fur, mold, pollen, grass)
• Irritants (smoke, pollution, dust, chemicals)
• Viral infections
• Physical activity, especially outdoors
• Certain medications or chemicals in foods (aspirin, sulfites)

Cryotherapy is the targeted use of extreme cold to destroy unhealthy or unwanted tissue. The doctor applies the cold on the skin or injects it through a needle to reach the inside of the body, where it freezes away the problem tissue. Cryotherapy is often used to remove minor skin problems such as warts or skin tags, and it is also used to treat some small tumors.

To achieve the cold temperatures needed for cryotherapy, liquid nitrogen or argon gas is passed through a tube, which becomes cold enough to freeze cells on contact. Alternatively, liquid nitrogen can be swabbed directly onto the skin or via a spray, which applies only a specific, small amount to the skin at a time.

Because the area treated is typically very small, cryotherapy is not usually painful. There may be a sensation of cold and possibly some slight discomfort. Cryotherapy is very fast and can easily be performed in a doctor's office. It also doesn't require stitches, because there is no cutting involved. These benefits make cryotherapy a good choice for many issues, including:

• Common warts
• Genital warts
• Skin tags
• Age spots
• Some skin cancers
• Cervical cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Retinoblastoma, cancer that occurs in the eye

A joint is any area of the body where two bones connect. Due to injury or disease, the space between the two bones can sometimes become swollen and inflamed, which leads to pain and a loss of mobility. Injection and aspiration are two tools that physicians use to treat joint pain locally without needing to perform surgery.