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The skin of the rhesus monkey was subjected to one and two-cycle freezing with liquid nitrogen spray. Temperatures of -40 to -60 C were used and the sites were evaluated from 7 to 182 days. Overall healing was excellent. Long-term specimens showed a consistent increase in epidermal thickness at the site of the freeze. This was quantified by use of computer-assisted image analysis. In addition, the elastic component of the skin, seldom studied in repair following skin surgery, did not regenerate.Cryosurgery is used extensively for treatment of neoplasms of the skin, and the general cure rate achieved by this modality is excellent. Certain components of the skin, such as melanocytes, have been shown to vary in their response to freezing. It is somewhat surprising, however, that despite the wide clinical use of cryosurgery on lesions of skin, there is a relative paucity of experimental information that would serve to characterize the subsequent repair and regeneration of all elements of the epidermis and dermis. For example, few studies deal with the effect of cryosurgical techniques on the elastic component of the skin, or satisfactorily quantify the degree of epidermal thickening. The present experiment was designed to characterize the effect of one and two-cycle direct spray liquid nitrogen freezing of the skin of the rhesus monkey back. Special emphasis was given to the properties of the skin following a long-term evaluation of repair.