Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can help some wounds heal faster. It also has side effects and risks, and it’s worth knowing them plainly.
The most common complication is barotrauma. This is injury caused by gases expanding in a confined space. The most common form is rupture or irritation of the eardrum.
Other, more serious injuries include pneumothorax (a collapsed lung), rupture of small blood vessels, and damage to the inner, middle and outer ear canals. More serious hazards include oxygen seizures, convulsions, fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema) and bleeding (hemorrhage). Chamber fires and explosions are catastrophic complications.
This is a list of what can happen, not a list of what is likely. Barotrauma is the most common. The rest range from more serious to catastrophic, and there’s no figure here for how often any of them happens.
One of these risks is managed during every session. Sessions include two ten-minute oxygen breaks to prevent oxygen seizures, so a guard against one of the hazards is built into the treatment itself.
Ear injuries are the most common, so they’re the ones most worth asking about beforehand. Ask what is done about equalizing pressure during a session and what you should report afterward.