This article is part of the HBOT Radar series, where we summarize the latest published hyperbaric oxygen therapy research.
Fresh Science, Clearly Explained — Brought to you by Brain Spa Hyperbaric
Disclaimer: This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It summarizes published medical research conducted in clinical settings and does not evaluate Brain Spa Hyperbaric products. The hyperbaric chambers offered on this website are non-medical wellness devices and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Do not make medical decisions based on this article — consult a qualified healthcare professional.
📌 A Scuba Diver Went Completely Blind Underwater. Two HBOT Sessions Later, He Could See Again.
🔍 The story
A 28-year-old man — an accountant, not a professional diver — went recreational scuba diving on April 13th, 2024. What should have been an exciting day turned into a medical emergency.
While ascending from just 18 meters depth, he lost his vision. Not blurry edges. Not spots. Complete blindness. Both eyes.
Here's what makes this case more complicated — and more alarming — than it first appears: this man should probably never have been in the water in the first place. His medical history reads like a list of diving contraindications. Years earlier, he'd been in a serious car crash that ruptured his left diaphragm, collapsed his lung (hemopneumothorax treated with a chest tube), and fractured his pelvis in multiple places. He'd also had an exploratory abdominal surgery. And since the car accident, he'd been on chronic opiate painkillers.
Any one of those factors — especially the history of pneumothorax — is considered a significant contraindication to scuba diving. A damaged diaphragm and prior lung collapse create structural vulnerabilities that can lead to air trapping during ascent. And that's almost certainly what happened here.
As the diver ascended, gas that should have expanded and escaped normally instead entered his arterial bloodstream — a condition called arterial gas embolism (AGE). Those tiny bubbles of gas traveled to the blood vessels supplying his visual cortex and retina, effectively blocking blood flow to the parts of his brain and eyes responsible for vision.
He arrived at the emergency department completely blind.
🌬️ The treatment
The medical team diagnosed arterial gas embolism based on the diving history, clinical examination, and radiological studies. And they moved fast — because with AGE, every hour of delay reduces the chance of recovery.
The patient underwent two sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy using U.S. Navy Treatment Table 6A — this is one of the most aggressive recompression protocols available, designed specifically for severe decompression illness. It involves:
- Pressure: Up to 6.0 ATA (equivalent to approximately 50 meters of seawater depth)
- Duration: Extended sessions lasting several hours, with alternating periods of 100% oxygen breathing and air breaks
- Purpose: Compress the gas bubbles back down to a size where they can dissolve, while simultaneously flooding oxygen-starved tissue with healing levels of oxygen
This is emergency medicine at its most dramatic — essentially putting the patient back "underwater" in a pressurized chamber to reverse the damage that ascending too quickly caused.
Note: US Navy Table 6A is an emergency recompression protocol used in hospital-grade multiplace hyperbaric chambers under direct medical supervision. This has no relationship to consumer or wellness-grade chambers.
📊 What happened
Complete recovery.
After two sessions of HBOT, the patient's vision returned fully. From total blindness to normal sight.
The authors don't mince words about how rare this presentation is — acute complete bilateral vision loss from decompression illness is described as "extremely rare" in the medical literature. Most DCI-related vision problems involve partial changes, blurring, or visual field defects. Going fully blind in both eyes is exceptional. And recovering fully from that is even more so.
🧠 What this case tells us — and what it doesn't
What it tells us:
This is HBOT doing exactly what it was originally designed to do. Treating decompression illness is one of the oldest and most well-established indications for hyperbaric oxygen — it's been standard of care for decades. The mechanism is textbook: compress the gas bubbles, restore blood flow, oxygenate the damaged tissue before it dies permanently.
What makes this case notable isn't that HBOT worked for DCI — that's expected. It's the severity of the presentation (total bilateral blindness) and the completeness of the recovery. It demonstrates that even in extreme cases, rapid recompression can reverse what looks like catastrophic neurological damage.
What it also tells us — and this is the part the authors emphasize:
This case is fundamentally a story about what happens when someone dives with unrecognized medical contraindications. A history of pneumothorax, prior lung surgery, chronic opiate use — any of these should have flagged this individual as unfit for diving. The authors' conclusion is pointed: proper medical screening before recreational diving isn't optional. It's the difference between an exciting hobby and a life-threatening emergency.
What it doesn't tell us:
This is a single case report — one patient, one outcome. We can't generalize from it. Not every AGE patient who receives HBOT recovers fully, and timing is critical: delays in recompression significantly worsen outcomes. The authors don't report the exact time between symptom onset and HBOT initiation, which would be an important detail for understanding why this case went so well.
📌 Takeaway for the community
- A 28-year-old novice diver who lost all vision in both eyes during ascent from 18 meters was diagnosed with arterial gas embolism — gas bubbles blocking blood flow to the visual system
- After two sessions of aggressive HBOT (US Navy Table 6A), he achieved complete recovery of vision
- Complete bilateral blindness from decompression illness is described as extremely rare — making the full recovery even more remarkable
- The patient had multiple medical contraindications to diving (prior pneumothorax, lung surgery, chronic opiate use) that were not identified before the dive, highlighting the critical importance of pre-dive medical screening
- This is a single case report documenting emergency medical treatment — it cannot be generalized, and outcomes depend heavily on how quickly HBOT is initiated after gas embolism occurs
Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0377123725001315
Obeidat M, Al-Njadat I, Al-Sukkar W, Al-Sukkar M. Blinded by the depths: A case of acute loss of vision in a scuba diver. Med J Armed Forces India. 2026;82(2):236-238. doi: 10.1016/j.mjafi.2025.06.010.
Educational disclaimer
This content summarizes findings from published medical research for educational purposes only.
The hyperbaric chambers sold on this website are non-medical wellness devices and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
The studies discussed here were conducted in clinical medical settings using medical-grade interventions. The inclusion of research summaries does not imply that similar outcomes can be achieved using non-medical wellness devices.
