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Barotrauma is the injury that occurs in a body when exposed to sudden contractions or expansions of air. This can be very painful and even lethal.
Here are a few examples of barotraumal injury:
- Ear barotrauma (picture) is when the middle ear does not want to equalize and the resulting increase in pressure causes the eardrum to burst. It may even cause permanent deafness if the inner ear is damaged.
- Sinus Barotrauma (picture) is when the sinuses does not want to equalize. This will cause blood and mucus to be forced out of the nose into the mask and may cause some permanent damage.
- Dental Barotrauma is when some air leaks into a filling in a tooth and on ascent the tooth explodes. The reverse occurs when there is some low pressure air is caught under the filling and the tooth implodes while descending.
- Pulmonary Barotrauma is when the lungs cannot equalize. This may happen during ascent and presents itself as a burst lung. A pneumothorax may occur and this is life threatening. During descent the lungs are compressed, especially during breathold competitions. The person then continues to dive deeper until his arteries rupture and haemorraghe and death occurs. This descent pulmonary barotrauma is rare and almost never happens.
- Gastrointestinal Barotrauma occurs when the diver swallows air at depth and on ascent this air expands causing pain, flatulence and a bloated feeling.
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