What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment?

Why is “hyperbaric oxygen” different from regular oxygen?

For a hyperbaric oxygen treatment to work, patients enter a clear pressurized chamber. They breathe 100% oxygen and the pressure is similar to the changes you experience when going up or down in an airplane or like being a scuba diver, only without the water! Because of that pressure, the oxygen is dissolved in everything liquid. Humans are 75% water, so patients who undergo hyperbaric oxygen therapy are super oxygenated. When in the chamber, wounds receive 10-12 times the amount of oxygen compared to outside the chamber.

Other benefits are:

• New blood vessels may begin to form in the wound area.
• Swelling (edema) is decreased. This is important because edema makes healing more difficult.
• White blood cells (the cells that fight infection) work more efficiently.

What types of wounds/conditions might benefit
from hyperbaric oxygen therapy?

• Diabetic Ulcers/Sores
  An evaluation by a physician will need to be done to determine the severity
• Osteomyelitis
  Infection of the bone that my cause open sores
• Post Radiation Tissue Injury
  The skin may be susceptible to breakdown after radiation treatment
• Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections
  A bacteria that thrives in a non-oxygen environment--also known as "flesh eating bacteria."
• Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
• Gas Gangrene
  May be caused by a minor cut/scratch
• Decompression Sickness
  "Bends" Could occur after scuba diving or a quick descent in an airplane
• Selected Problem Wounds
  Any wound that has not responded to conventional treatment
• Crush Injury, Compartment Syndrome, and other Acute Traumatic Ischemias
  Local and temporary deficiency of blood supply
• Exceptional Blood Loss
  Anemia
• Compromised Skin Grafts & Flaps that show signs of not healing immediately after surgery
• Thermal Burns
• Intracranial Abscess
  Infection in the brain