Frequently Asked Questions About Our Services and Treatments
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (abbreviated HBOT) is a medical treatment that uses pure oxygen to speed and enhance the body's natural ability to heal. High-dose oxygen therapy is an American Medical Association, FDA and Medicare-approved modality.
While sometimes used as a primary emergency treatment, it is more often used as a cost-effective adjunct or enhancement therapy.
During therapy, the patient breathes 100% pure oxygen under increased atmospheric pressure. (the air we normally breathe contains only 19-21% of this essential element.) The concentration of oxygen normally dissolved in the bloodstream is thus raised many times above normal – up to 2,000%.
In addition to the blood, all body fluids including the lymph and cerebrospinal fluids are infused with the healing benefits of this molecular oxygen.
It can reach bone and tissue which are inaccessible to red blood cells, enhance white blood cell function, increase circulating stem cells, stimulate the production of collagen and promote the formation of new capillary and peripheral blood vessels.
This results in increased infection control and faster healing of a wide range of conditions including, but not limited to soft tissue injuries, skin grafts, and reconstructive or plastic surgery.
When administered by highly trained professionals, HBOT is extremely safe and effective. It is normally used as part of an overall medical treatment plan for a variety of conditions.
Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of 14 approved indications.
Although conditions outside of these approved indications are not covered by insurance in the United States and are not recognized by the UHMS or the FDA many patients have reported considerable improvement and benefits when using hyperbaric oxygen therapy as adjunctive therapy for a wide range of conditions.
This makes perfect sense to those in the field of hyperbaric oxygen therapy as most bacteria and viruses cannot survive in an oxygen-rich environment.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy also stops the body’s inflammatory response and as we are learning more and more, most conditions affecting our society today are inflammatory in nature.
Approved Indications
- Air or Gas Embolism
- Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Complicated By Cyanide Poisoning
- Clostridial Myositis and Myonecrosis (Gas Gangrene)
- Crush Injury, Compartment Syndrome and Other Acute Traumatic Ischemias
- Decompression Sickness
- Arterial Insufficiencies: Central Retinal Artery Occlusion and Enhancement of Healing In Selected Problem Wounds
- Severe Anemia
- Intracranial Abscess
- Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections
- Osteomyelitis (Refractory)
- Delayed Radiation Injury (Soft Tissue and Bony Necrosis)
- Compromised Grafts and Flaps
- Acute Thermal Burn Injury
- Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Conditions That May Benefit from HBOT
- AIDS
- Amputation Prevention & Recovery
- Asthma
- Birth Injuries
- Cancer Treatment Recovery
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Dementia
- Enhanced Healing post Cosmetic Surgery
- Macular Degeneration (Wet & Dry)
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Near Drowning
- PTSD
- Stroke
- Alzheimer’s
- Arthritis
- Anti-Aging
- Autism
- Brain Injuries
- Cerebral Palsy
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- Learning Disabilities
- Lyme Disease
- Migraine / Headaches
- Myocardial Infraction
- Parkinson’s
- Sleep Apnea
- TBI
Optimal Hyperbarics uses a self-releasing seated monoplace hyperbaric chamber. The chamber allows our patients to remain comfortably seated, rather than lying flat, in their own private chamber.
Sitting chambers provide more comfort to our patients, especially those who have difficulty breathing while lying down, claustrophobia, problems tolerating treatments in a supine position, or for our pediatric patients requiring the presence of an adult. The chamber is considerable in size and has a private entertainment system.
The treatment is painless. At times, you may experience a sensation of pressure in your ears similar to flying in an airplane.
Your treatment protocol will be determined by the prescription given by your attending physician. Some cases require only a few treatments, while other wound-healing and neurological cases may require 20 to 40 treatments.
If you do not have a prescription for HBOT, you may contact our facility and schedule a consultation with our medical director.
There are a number of preparations that are necessary before starting each treatment which will be discussed with you in detail by our hyperbaric medicine team.
Patients should eat and take medications as they normally would. Diabetics are encouraged to eat before entering the chamber in order to prevent the occurrence of hypoglycemia.
To ensure your safety and maximum benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy, certain precautions are necessary. The following information summarizes these preparations.
- Smoking – Since tobacco products constrict blood vessels and limit the amount of blood and oxygen that can be delivered to tissues. You should not use tobacco products during your course of treatment.
- Medications – Some medications change the body’s response to oxygen. It is very important that you provide the hyperbaric medicine team with a complete list of medications, including non-prescription drugs that you are currently taking.
- Items Allowed In the Hyperbaric Chamber - 100% cotton clothing is recommended for HBOT. Please empty all pockets and wear socks, no bare feet, please. No electronic devices, metal, jewelry, or watches. Do not wear any scented lotions or perfumes and limit the amount of topical ointments including makeup.
- Flying - Do not fly or drive to a higher altitude within 12 hours of completing your last hyperbaric treatment.
- Exercise - Heavy cardiovascular exercise is not recommended one hour prior to as well as four hours after your treatment as this will cause you to burn through the oxygen at a much higher rate decreasing the efficacy of your treatment.
- Dental Work - If you have had any new dental work, especially filings, you must wait 48 hours before going in the chamber to preserve the integrity of the fillings. Please let the Hyperbaric team know of any recent or upcoming dental work.
- Sinus Issues - If you have nasal congestion, sinus problems, or a head cold on the day of your treatment, it is not recommended you receive HBOT that day as equalizing may be compromised.