Italian doctor M. Matarasso created for removing freckles that literally involved him freezing your face and digging them out of a person’s face.

The search for beauty has led people down some horrible roads, but one of the most upsetting procedures of the early 20th century was the one that Italian doctor M. Matarasso created for removing freckles that literally involved him freezing your face and digging them out of a person’s face. A person would be placed in Matarasso’s chair and have their freckle patches frozen with carbon dioxide. From there, the doctor would peel the skin away until their patient’s face was devoid of all freckles. Patient’s usually healed within two weeks of the procedure, but the memories were forever

In the 1930s, Italian physician Dr. M. Matarasso pioneered a method for removing freckles that literally required freezing them and digging them out of your face. He would freeze a patch with carbon dioxide, or dry ice, and then use a small dagger-like device to loosen and peel the pigmentation off of the face. Within a week or two, the skin would heal freckle-free. The procedure is similar to how plantar and regular warts are treated, with liquid nitrogen or other freezing element applied in a process called cryotherapy.

Not only is the apparatus on the woman in the picture somewhat intimidating, but cryotherapy is quite painful. The application of the cold stings a great deal, and the subsequent death of tissue is quite painful. One cannot even imagine how painful an entire face of such treatment must be! Hopefully, the woman in the photo only had a few removed at a time, not her full cheeks.

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