Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
What is HBOT?
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized environment. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a well-established treatment for Healing and Anti-aging. Other conditions treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy include serious infections, bubbles of air in your blood vessels, and wounds that may not heal as a result of diabetes or radiation injury.
In a hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber, the air pressure is increased two to three times higher than normal air pressure. Under these conditions, your lungs can gather much more oxygen than would be possible breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure.
When your blood carries this extra oxygen throughout your body, this helps fight bacteria and stimulate the release of substances called growth factors and stem cells, which promote healing.
Why it's done?
Your body's tissues need an adequate supply of oxygen to function. When tissue is injured, it requires even more oxygen to survive. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases the amount of oxygen your blood can carry. With repeated scheduled treatments, the temporary extra high oxygen levels encourage normal tissue oxygen levels, even after the therapy is completed.
The oxygen molecules actually shrink under this pressure and can squeeze through constricted blood vessels, inflamed tissue, cross the blood-brain barrier, enter lymph nodes, cerebrospinal fluid, and musculoskeletal system. Essentially, oxygen is delivered into all of our tissues, including areas where circulation is diminished, which is an extremely important component as oxygen is essential for the function and maintenance of every cell in our body, regardless of whether it's an organ, muscle, or bone.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to treat several medical conditions. Dr. Sherry may suggest hyperbaric oxygen therapy if you have one of the following conditions:
Anti-aging
Collagen building
Healing after PDO Procedures
Severe anemia
Burns
Depression/Anxiety
Infection of skin or bone that causes tissue death
Radiation injury
Sport Performance/Injuries
Sexual Performance
Traumatic brain injury (Concussions)
Vision loss, sudden and painless
What you can expect
During therapy, the air pressure in the room is about two to three times the normal air pressure. The increased air pressure will create a temporary feeling of fullness in your ears — similar to what you might feel in an airplane or at a high elevation. You can relieve that feeling by yawning or swallowing.
For most conditions, hyperbaric oxygen therapy lasts approximately one hour. Members of your health care team will monitor you and the therapy unit throughout your treatment.
After hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Your therapy team assesses you including looking in your ears and taking your blood pressure and pulse. If you have diabetes, your blood glucose is checked. Once the team decides you are ready, you can get dressed and leave.
You may feel somewhat tired or hungry following your treatment. This doesn't limit normal activities.
Results
To benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy, you'll likely need more than one session. The number of sessions is dependent upon your medical condition. Some conditions, such as carbon monoxide poisoning, might be treated in three visits. Others, such as nonhealing wounds, may require 40 treatments or more.
To effectively treat approved medical conditions, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is usually part of a comprehensive treatment plan provided with other therapies and drugs that are designed to fit your individual needs.