LAUSR

acceptance of the therapy, and recovery was uneventful in most patients. Thermotherapy has been used to treat deep fungal infections, namely, sporotrichosis, chromomycosis, and even candidal keratitis. Cryotherapy in CI has not been reported in PubMed in English language. The exact mechanism of cryotherapy for treatment of CI is unclear. Liquid nitrogen cryotherapy treatment of areas helps to remove hyperkeratotic, macerated tissue. It may be speculated that on rapid cooling, formation of intracellular ice crystals induces dehydration and pH changes, disrupting the infected cells alongwithCandida spp. Slow thawing leads to prolonged exposure to toxic substrates during recrystallization, which increases cell damage. Cryotherapy may also cause denaturation of fungal cell wall proteins. Freezing may also remove antigen-antibody complexes. Crust formation following the procedure as a result of local ischemia may help to clear chronic infective tissue. The limitations in our study include small sample size, no blinding or randomization, and no identification of subtypes of Candida spp., which could not be performed on account of lack of resources. Cryotherapy is a potentially effective, safe, easily available, and cost-effective therapeutic approach to treat unresponsive CI. Larger multicenter studies are required to substantiate the efficacy and safety of this approach.