Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Dallas
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a medical treatment that enhances the body’s natural healing processes by inhalation of 100% oxygen in a total body chamber where atmospheric pressure can be increased and controlled. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized room or tube. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a well-established treatment for decompression sickness, a hazard of scuba diving. Other conditions treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy include serious infections, air bubbles in your blood vessels and wounds that won’t heal as a result of diabetes or radiation injury.
In a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, air pressure is three times higher than normal. This helps your lungs and other organs gather more oxygen than breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure. Your blood carries this oxygen throughout your body, which helps fight bacteria and stimulate the release of substances called growth factors and stem cells, which promote healing.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can help wounds, especially infected wounds, heal more quickly. The therapy has also been approved for treating:
- Acute or traumatic inadequate blood flow in arteries
- Air or gas embolism
- Bone infections (osteomyelitis) that have not improved with other treatments
- Burns
- Carbon monoxide poisoning
- Certain brain or sinus infections
- Cyanide poisoning
- Crush injuries
- Chronic infection (actinomycosis)
- Diabetic wounds that won’t heal properly
- Decompression sickness (i.e., a diving injury)
- Gas gangrene
- Necrotizing soft tissue infections
- Radiation injury (i.e., damage from radiation therapy for cancer)
- Skin grafts
- Wounds that have not healed with other treatments (i.e., foot ulcers in someone with diabetes or very bad circulation)
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may also be used for other wound conditions not listed above. You undergo this therapy by entering a special chamber where you breathe pure oxygen at pressure levels up to three times higher than average. By filing your blood with enough oxygen, we can repair tissues and restore normal body function.
Interested in learning more about hyperbaric oxygen therapy? Schedule an appointment with Graff Foot Ankle and Wound Care. Call (972) 403-7733 or use our convenient Request an Appointment form to schedule your visit.
