Hyperbaric oxygen, where it genuinely helps
You are probably here for one of a handful of reasons: hearing that vanished overnight, radiation damage that outlasted the cancer, or an exhaustion nobody can explain. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has real evidence in specific situations and hype everywhere else. Here is the honest version, and a free call to find out where your case lands.
- One morning the hearing in my ear was just gone, like it was underwater.
- I beat the cancer, but years later the radiation damage is still with me.
- I hurt everywhere and nowhere specific, and my tests keep coming back normal.
- Months after COVID, a flight of stairs still wipes me out for two days.
Where the evidence stands
- Sudden sensorineural hearing loss, treated early alongside steroids: established, guideline-recognized
- Late radiation tissue injury after cancer radiotherapy: established, Cochrane-reviewed
- Fibromyalgia and long COVID: emerging evidence from small randomized trials, framed as exactly that
Physician eligibility review before any course
Trained staff present at every pressurised session
Written safety and fire protocols
What the trials actually found
The honest numbers, graded the way AION grades everything:
- Sudden hearing loss: adding HBOT to steroids roughly quadrupled the odds of hearing recovery across three pooled randomized trials, when started early (Joshua 2022)
- Late radiation injury: a Cochrane review of 18 trials found improved healing of radiation damage to bowel, bladder and jaw (Lin 2023)
- Fibromyalgia: in a randomized crossover trial of 60 women, 40 sessions improved every symptom measure alongside normalized brain imaging (Efrati 2015). Small, and not yet independently replicated
- Long COVID: a sham-controlled, double-blind trial of 73 patients found improved cognition, energy, sleep and pain (Zilberman-Itskovich 2022). Promising, still early
Who may be suitable
Pressure changes affect the whole body, so screening is not a formality here. Your physician checks your lungs, ears and medical history before approving a course. HBOT is typically considered where mitochondrial or oxidative stress markers, or slow recovery, point to it.
It may be considered when
- Your assessment is complete and your physician approves a course
- Your ears and lungs tolerate pressure changes
- You can commit to the sessions your plan recommends
Screening looks closely at
- Untreated lung conditions
- Ear problems and recent ear or chest procedures
- Anything in your history that makes pressure exposure unwise
What a session involves
Sessions are calm and closely supervised from start to finish. How many sessions form a course is your physician's call, reviewed against how you respond.
Before
Eligibility review with your physician, a walkthrough of the chamber, and simple preparation such as cotton clothing provided by the clinic.
During
You settle into the chamber and the pressure rises gradually. You may feel your ears adjust, like on a flight. You rest and breathe normally while staff monitor you throughout.
After
The pressure returns to normal gradually, staff check on you, and your response is noted in your plan before the next session.
Risks and limitations
Hyperbaric medicine has its own safety standards, and they shape how AION runs the chamber: trained operators, regular drills, a physician responsible for every course. Most people tolerate HBOT well when screened properly. Known risks include:
- Ear and sinus pressure discomfort, the most common issue
- Temporary changes in vision with longer courses
- Rare pressure-related injury to ears or lungs, which screening is designed to prevent
- Anti-aging and longevity claims for HBOT overreach the current evidence, and AION does not make them
Related clinical evidence
View the full clinical evidence library →The evidence behind Hyperbaric Oxygen
Hyperbaric Oxygen for UHMS-Approved Indications: Wound Healing, CO Poisoning, and Decompression Sickness
HBOT for Long COVID: One Positive Sham-Controlled Trial, One Negative One
HBOT for Cognitive Enhancement and Biological Anti-Aging (Telomere Length) in Healthy Adults
HBOT for Sports Recovery and Athletic Performance
Questions about Hyperbaric Oxygen
Mostly like sitting in a quiet room. The noticeable part is the pressure change at the start and end, which feels like the ear pressure on a flight. Staff guide you through equalising and monitor you the whole time.
People with untreated lung conditions, certain ear problems, or recent ear or chest procedures. That is exactly what the physician screening is for, and it is why AION does not sell sessions without it.
That depends on your plan. Your physician recommends a course based on your assessment and reviews how you respond as it progresses.
There is genuine randomized-trial evidence in both, and AION treats it for what it is: promising, from small studies, not yet settled science. Whether a course makes sense for your case is a decision your physician makes with you from your assessment, with that evidence on the table rather than oversold.
Connected care
One body. Everything connects.
What you've just read is rarely the whole story. These are often part of the same picture.
Treatment
Ozone Therapy
A specific ozone therapy method: a closed-circuit procedure that filters, oxygenates and ozonates blood, run by a trained physician.
Diagnostics
Functional, Hormonal & Cognitive Health
How your body performs, how your hormones are behaving, and how your mind is holding up, measured together.
Program
Performance AION 360
Sports performance testing in Limassol, for people whose real question is not what is wrong, but what would make them perform better.
Find out if Hyperbaric Oxygen is your answer.
One free call. You leave knowing whether AION fits your case, what it would involve, and what it costs. If the honest answer is no, you hear that too, and it costs you nothing to hear it.
Your free call is with Dr Inbar Almon Tofan, AION Department Manager, and Sylvia, Patient Coordinator. It is a first conversation, not a medical consultation.