Editor’s Note
This article explores the intriguing world of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, examining the tension between its straightforward scientific premise and its unconventional, sometimes speculative, applications.
The science behind hyperbaric therapy is relatively straightforward, but the apparatuses involved look somewhat absurd. Some are zip-up bags made of flexible plastic; others are translucent, hard-sided acrylic tubes. Some allow you to sit upright; others require you to lie down. Some chambers are intended for one person at a time; others can treat multiple people at once. They all look a little retro-futuristic, like a mid-century person’s idea of something high-tech. For patients, they can bring to mind submarines, iron lungs, and coffins.
In late 2022, Jean Hannah Edelstein was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer and had a double mastectomy seven weeks later. It was an expedient and straightforward process, as far as major cancer operations go. But in the days immediately following the surgery, she discovered that her wounds weren’t healing.
She soon learned she’d developed an infection and that if her doctors couldn’t find a way to quickly stop the necrosis, she wouldn’t have enough skin left for the reconstructive surgery she very much wanted. Her surgeon recommended hyperbaric oxygen therapy, an FDA-approved treatment that accelerates the body’s healing process by delivering pure oxygen to the lungs within a pressurized chamber. The air we normally breathe is approximately 21 percent oxygen, but in a hyperbaric chamber, the patient breathes in 100 percent oxygen while enclosed in a space with air pressure that can be up to three times higher than normal. The extra oxygen and intense pressure allows the lungs to take in more oxygen, which goes into the blood and increases delivery to the tissues.
Currently, the FDA lists about a dozen conditions approved for treatment with hyperbaric therapy — gas gangrene, carbon-monoxide poisoning, and non-healing wounds like Edelstein’s among them.
The treatment was something Edelstein had only vaguely heard of; she thought, Didn’t Michael Jackson use that or something? In the 1980s, The National Enquirer reported on Jackson’s use of a hyperbaric chamber with a scornful headline about the pop star’s “bizarre plan” to live to 150. More recently, Kendall Jenner showed off her soft-sided chamber during an episode of The Kardashians, and in February, tech entrepreneur and biohacker Bryan Johnson announced on X that he had moved his office into a hyperbaric chamber in his home. LeBron James has been using a hyperbaric chamber for muscle recovery since at least 2017, and Paris Hilton counts a four-person chamber among the wellness devices in her at-home spa. In 2023, LeAnn Rimes recorded a front-facing camera testimonial crediting hyperbaric therapy with “a significant reduction of anxiety and depression.”
And when she first saw the hyperbaric chambers at the hospital near her home in Montclair, New Jersey, her skepticism didn’t exactly abate. For a claustrophobic person like Edelstein, none of them were an ideal place to spend three hours, four days a week — the length and frequency of sessions her medical team prescribed.
A Xanax prescription helped to stave off her anxiety. The pressure made her ears pop, like she was on an airplane, but after that, the atmosphere felt normal. Looking back, she says she felt pretty good.
Nothing was allowed inside the chamber — no phone nor jewelry, and she swapped her clothing for a hospital gown — in the name of fire prevention. In some hyperbaric chambers, like the one Edelstein used, the pressurized air inside is 100 percent oxygen, which can lead to an intense and fast fire if one is sparked. In others, it’s just normal air that’s been pressurized, and the pure oxygen is delivered via a mask. At Edelstein’s hospital, there was a TV just outside the chamber, suspended at an angle where she could easily watch from her supine position.
Despite her initial hesitation, Edelstein was amazed by her experience. Her doctors recommended 40 sessions, but her team was satisfied enough to end her treatment before she reached her 20th.
The best part for Edelstein was that she was able to get the reconstructive surgery she wanted. The second-best part came as more of a surprise: Her face looked incredible. She’d acquired a certain youthful glow — a complexion that was fresh, firm, maybe even plump. At one point during her treatment, a stranger commented on how sad it was that she’d had breast cancer because she was so young.