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Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) promotes natural healing by sending a boost of oxygen to injured tissues. Though HBOT can lead to remarkable results, it can also be dangerous for some people and often gets advertised to heal problems that may not help.

For this reason, you should protect your well-being by connecting with Jaime Dodge, MD, at Aletheia Integrative in Lincoln, Nebraska. As an HBOT specialist, he evaluates your health and discusses whether the treatment may improve your condition.

Here, he explains how HBOT works and the six conditions it treats.

How hyperbaric oxygen therapy works

Without oxygen, your body can’t produce life-sustaining energy or heal diseases and injuries.

Oxygen levels fall when a health problem stops oxygen from moving out of the lungs and into the bloodstream. Tissues are also deprived of oxygen when blood flow is disrupted, often because of injury and inflammation.

You can’t increase oxygen levels by inhaling air because the number and health of red blood cells limit their capacity to carry oxygen.

You can significantly improve oxygen levels with HBOT because it delivers 100% oxygen in a pressurized hyperbaric chamber. 

The higher pressure does more than push extra oxygen into your lungs. It also allows more oxygen to dissolve in your blood, bypassing the limitations posed by red blood cells.

Higher oxygen concentrations in your blood mean more oxygen reaches the cells that need it to heal and survive.

Conditions treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy

HBOT is well-known for treating carbon monoxide poisoning and decompression sickness, a painful and potentially deadly condition that occurs when divers rise to the surface too quickly. Both conditions improve as HBOT restores the balance of blood gases.

Oxygen’s vital role in healing makes HBOT beneficial for treating many conditions. HBOT is currently approved to treat 14 health conditions and is used off-label for many others, such as brain injuries, migraines, COVID-19, and bodywide inflammation.

Six of the most common problems treated with HBOT include:

1. Nonhealing and traumatic wounds

Wounds can’t heal without a good blood supply because impaired circulation reduces oxygen levels. 

Non-healing wounds frequently develop in the legs and feet of people with diabetes (high blood sugar damages blood vessels), blocked arteries (atherosclerosis), and vein diseases that slow circulation.

You may also need HBOT for traumatic wounds that affect any body area if the injury is severe and overwhelms your body’s oxygen supply.

2. Burns

Severe burns are incredibly complex wounds that can destroy the underlying fat, muscles, bone, blood vessels, and nerves. Infusing the tissues with extra oxygen improves healing by accelerating the growth of new tissues, including new blood vessels.

3. Infections

HBOT is the next step when an infection doesn’t improve with medical care. In addition to the benefits of oxygen, HBOT fights infections through its ability to disable bacteria, strengthen your immune system, and enhance the activity of white blood cells, which find and destroy microorganisms.

4. Radiation injuries

Radiation therapy is a life-saving cancer treatment. Unfortunately, 85%-95% of patients develop skin and soft tissue injuries as a side effect of their radiation treatments. 

These injuries may need the healing boost of HBOT to prevent complications like skin and hair loss, nonhealing ulcers, and vascular scarring.

5. Vision and hearing loss

HBOT effectively treats vision and hearing loss caused by sudden blood loss. While mild cases of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) may improve with medication, HBOT is often the best chance for restoring hearing in moderate to severe cases.

If you develop central retinal arterial occlusion (CRAO), HBOT may be the only treatment to improve your vision.

6. Severe anemia

Iron deficiency anemia develops due to blood loss and when your body can’t produce enough hemoglobin to support red blood cell function. Sickle cell anemia changes the shape of red blood cells and shortens their life, causing a red blood cell deficiency.

Both conditions improve with HBOT. However, anemia also needs additional treatments targeting the specific type.

The caring team at Aletheia Integrative specializes in HBOT. Call or book online to schedule an appointment and learn if HBOT can help heal your health challenge.