Electrocautery is a procedure in which an electric current is passed through a resistant metal wire (probe), and the heat produced in the process is used in various medical procedures. The heat from electrocautery can be applied to living tissues to burn away any abnormal tissue or seal the blood loss (achieve hemostasis).

Electrocautery is used for several purposes, which include:

Electrocautery at low temperatures can be used for superficial tissue destruction in the treatment of superficial and relatively avascular (devoid of blood supply) masses. Such lesions include:

• Seborrheic keratoses (a type of noncancerous skin growth)
• Acrochordons (skin tags)
• Molluscum (a type of viral infections causing raised, flesh-colored bumps on the skin)
• Verrucae (a contagious and often painful wart)
• Syringomas (noncancerous tumors typically found on the eyelids and cheeks)
• Small angiomas (a type of abnormal growth formed by blood vessels)

Higher temperature electrocautery is used for the removal of thicker skin lesions, such as:

• Sebaceous hyperplasia (enlarged sebaceous glands with trapped sebum)
• Pyogenic granulomas (a noncancerous blood vessel tumor found on the skin)

Hemostasis (stopping blood loss) of vessels in surgery.