The diver then passes out, experiences a stroke, or has other nervous system complaints within minutes of surfacing.This most commonly occurs when a diver ascends rapidly because of air shortage or panic.These bubbles expand during ascent and can pass through your heart to obstruct blood flow in the arteries of your brain or heart. While you are diving, gas bubbles can enter your circulatory system through small ruptured veins in your lungs. As you rise, the volume of the gas in your lung expands and can cause damage if the excess is not exhaled.Īir embolism is the most serious and most feared consequence of diving. Pulmonary barotrauma (pulmonary overpressurization syndrome, POPS, or burst lung) can occur if you fail to expel air from your lungs during ascent.This happens more often with novice divers and causes temporary pain but rarely significant damage. Aerogastria occurs when gas that you swallowed during diving expands during ascent.As the spray wears off during diving, tissues swell and cause obstruction, resulting in a pressure difference and damage. A reverse squeeze occurs to your middle ear or sinus when a diver has an upper respiratory infection (cold) and has used nasal spray to open the breathing passages.Lung squeeze: This occurs when you are free-diving, but very few divers can hold their breath to depths that cause this injury to occur.Suit squeeze: A dry diving suit tightly encloses an area of skin.Face mask squeeze: This occurs if you do not exhale into the diver mask while descending.Sinus squeeze: When air becomes trapped in the sinuses because of congestion or cold symptoms, a sinus squeeze can occur.This causes a vacuum effect that can result in: Less common types of barotrauma involve air trapped in an enclosed area that cannot equalize during descent. This injury is less common than a middle ear squeeze.

The result is usually ringing in the ear, dizziness, and deafness. This can result from an overly forceful Valsalva maneuver. Inner ear barotrauma occurs from the sudden development of pressure differences between the middle and inner ear.You can try certain maneuvers, called Valsalva maneuvers, such as yawning or trying to blow with your nose and mouth closed, to open the tube and equalize the pressure. When there is a problem with the tube, the middle ear volume decreases and pulls the eardrum inward, creating damage and pain. The eustachian tube is a small canal that connects the middle ear to the back part of the nasal cavities and allows pressure to equalize. This is the most common problem for divers.

Middle ear squeeze occurs when you cannot equalize the pressure in your middle ear.

This can damage the tissue in the ear canal, usually your eardrum. As the water pressure increases while you descend, the air pocket between the obstruction and the tympanic membrane (eardrum) shrinks.

External ear squeeze occurs when your ear canal is blocked by something such as earplugs or earwax.

Water is heavier than air, so when you dive, small changes in depth cause large changes in pressure underwater. Barotrauma/Decompression Sickness Overviewīarotrauma often refers to medical problems that arise from the effects of water pressure when a scuba diver is beneath the surface.

Sinus barotrauma