What is hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), and what is it used for?

In hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a person breathes pure oxygen inside a chamber pressurized above normal air pressure. The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society recognizes 15 uses, including decompression sickness, carbon monoxide poisoning, some non-healing diabetic foot wounds, delayed radiation injury and sudden hearing loss. Hyperbaric chambers are FDA-regulated medical devices; clearance covers specific products and uses, not every use offered.

On this page

• Overview
• Why people use it
• Evidence
• Potential benefits
• Risks and side effects
• Who should not have hyperbaric oxygen therapy?
• Administration methods
• How are soft "mild" hyperbaric chambers different from medical HBOT?
• How long does a hyperbaric oxygen therapy session take?
• How long until results?
• How much does hyperbaric oxygen therapy cost (per session)?
• Does insurance or Medicare cover hyperbaric oxygen therapy?
• Which conditions do hyperbaric chamber clearances cover?
• What should I ask a provider before starting hyperbaric oxygen therapy?
• Frequently asked questions
• Provider directory
• References
• Page information

Overview

In hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a person breathes pure oxygen inside a chamber pressurized above normal air pressure.[1][2] The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society recognizes 15 uses, including decompression sickness, carbon monoxide poisoning, some non-healing diabetic foot wounds, delayed radiation injury and sudden hearing loss.[3] Sudden hearing loss appears on UHMS's list and as an option on a US ear, nose and throat guideline, but is not on Medicare's covered list; thermal burns appear on UHMS's list but not on Medicare's. The strength of the evidence varies a great deal by condition: some results come from Cochrane reviews of randomized trials, and others come from small trials that disagree or from trials whose conflict statements list authors who work for or hold a financial stake in a company, AVIV Scientific.

Why people use it

None of the cleared indications we reviewed for hyperbaric chambers covers slowing aging, longevity or general wellness. They name specific conditions, such as carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness or acute mountain sickness (checked September 28, 2026).

The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society's list of 15 recognized medical uses includes decompression sickness, carbon monoxide poisoning, some non-healing diabetic foot wounds and delayed radiation injury. The society's criteria for listing a use include a sound physiologic rationale and extensive clinical experience, so a listing is not a grade of the evidence.[3]

Researchers have also tested hyperbaric oxygen for purposes outside that list, including autism, long COVID, sports recovery and thinking and fitness in healthy older adults.

Evidence

Hyperbaric chambers are FDA-regulated medical devices; clearance covers specific products and uses, not every use offered.

Evidence levels in this table follow our grading key. Established means consistent results from randomized trials, a systematic review of them, or guideline, coverage-policy or regulatory content. Emerging means some controlled human evidence that falls short of that, such as small or mixed trials, or evidence capped by company funding. Experimental means no controlled human evidence for the claim, only uncontrolled or non-randomized studies, blood or index measures, or animal and laboratory work. Not graded means we did not search for later studies of the claim or could not read the key source, and the cell says which. Where a cell says a search found no trial, it names the databases and the date; that is a search result and does not show that no trial exists.

Diabetic foot ulcers

A 2015 Cochrane review of hyperbaric oxygen for chronic wounds, including 10 trials in 531 people with diabetic foot ulcers, found faster healing of those ulcers at 6 weeks in a pooled analysis of 5 trials (205 people) with hyperbaric oxygen added to standard wound care.[4] In the 2015 Cochrane review of hyperbaric oxygen for chronic wounds, the healing benefit in diabetic foot ulcers was not evident at one year, and the review authors said flaws in the trials meant they were not confident in the results.[4] Three individual trials that we read disagree: one blinded trial found more ulcers healed at one year with hyperbaric oxygen (52% versus 29%), one blinded trial found no difference between hyperbaric oxygen and a sham treatment, and one trial without a sham treatment found no difference in healing or limb salvage in people with poor blood flow to the leg.[5][6][7] The same Cochrane review found no statistically significant difference in the rate of major amputation with hyperbaric oxygen.[4] That Cochrane review carries a 2020 notice from its editors that it was found, after publication, to be noncompliant with Cochrane's conflict-of-interest policy, and that its lead author had declared paid consultancy for drug and infusion companies unrelated to hyperbaric chamber makers.[4] For diabetic foot ulcers, the evidence on healing and on preventing amputation is rated Emerging: results are mixed across reviews and trials, and the two blinded trials described here disagree.

Sudden hearing loss

A 2012 Cochrane review of 7 trials in 392 people with sudden sensorineural hearing loss pooled data from 2 of those trials (114 people) and found that adding hyperbaric oxygen to standard treatment significantly increased the chance of a 25% improvement in average hearing threshold, but not the chance of a 50% improvement.[8] The review's authors wrote that the clinical significance of the improvement remains unclear and that the studies were small and of generally poor quality.[8] A 2022 review of 3 randomized trials in 150 people found an average hearing gain of about 10 decibels when hyperbaric oxygen was added to medical therapy, compared with medical therapy alone.[9] A 2019 US ear, nose and throat guideline lists hyperbaric oxygen, combined with steroid treatment, as an option within two weeks of sudden hearing loss, and as a salvage option within one month if the first treatment did not work.[10] The 2012 Cochrane review of hyperbaric oxygen for sudden hearing loss and tinnitus found no evidence of benefit for hearing loss or tinnitus that had become chronic, and its authors state that they do not recommend using it for chronic hearing loss or tinnitus.[8] The review could not assess the effect of hyperbaric oxygen on tinnitus by pooled analysis.[8] For tinnitus that presented within two weeks, the review reports some indication from methodologically poor studies that hyperbaric oxygen might improve it, and no evidence that any improvement is functionally important.[8]

Does HBOT help late radiation injury after cancer treatment?

A 2023 Cochrane review of 18 studies in 1,071 people with late tissue injury from cancer radiotherapy found, in a pooled analysis of 5 of those trials (468 people), that hyperbaric oxygen was linked to more complete healing or improvement, based on low-certainty evidence.[11] The same review found that hyperbaric oxygen may not prevent death within one year in this group, based on low-certainty evidence from small trials.[11]

In one trial that randomized 144 people who needed dental surgery on a lower jaw previously treated with radiotherapy, and analyzed the main result in 100 of them, 30 daily hyperbaric oxygen sessions did not lower the rate of radiation bone damage (osteoradionecrosis) 6 months after surgery: 6.4% with hyperbaric oxygen versus 5.7% without.[12] An earlier randomized trial in people at high risk who needed teeth removed from an irradiated lower jaw (Marx 1985) reported osteoradionecrosis in 5.4% of those given hyperbaric oxygen first and 29.9% of those given penicillin.[13] We read only its abstract, which does not give the number of participants or the funding.

In two small trials pooled together, in people having surgery to remove jaw bone damaged by radiotherapy, 70% (21 of 30) healed at one year with 30 sessions before and 10 after surgery, compared with 51% (18 of 35) with standard care.[14] In that pooled analysis of two small trials in people having surgery for radiotherapy-damaged jaw bone, the authors said the difference in healing at one year was not statistically significant and that the trials were too small to rule out a real effect.[14]

Does HBOT prevent lasting brain effects after carbon monoxide poisoning?

A Cochrane review of 6 trials in 1,361 people with carbon monoxide poisoning found the trials do not settle whether hyperbaric oxygen prevents lasting brain or thinking problems, and noted that the two trials that did find a benefit were stopped early, which likely inflated their results.[15] One of the trials in that review, of 152 people given three hyperbaric oxygen sessions in 24 hours, found fewer cognitive problems at 6 weeks (25% versus 46%) and at 12 months than with normal-pressure oxygen.[16]

Potential benefits

None of the cleared indications we reviewed for hyperbaric chambers covers slowing aging, longevity or general wellness. They name specific conditions, such as carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness or acute mountain sickness (checked September 28, 2026).

Aging, telomeres, memory and thinking

The telomere, thinking and fitness results in healthy older adults described on this page come from one Israeli trial that enrolled 70 independently living adults aged 64 and older, 63 of whom completed it. The trial had no placebo chamber, and its results have been published in several papers, including the three this page describes.[17][18][19] In that trial's telomere report, only people who received hyperbaric oxygen were studied, with no comparison group: 35 were assigned to hyperbaric oxygen, 30 completed the course, and telomere length was analyzed in 26. The paper's authors concluded that the therapy may lengthen telomeres and clear senescent cells.[20] The same report found fewer senescent immune cells after hyperbaric oxygen in the 20 people analyzed, again without a comparison group.[20] Telomere length and senescent cell counts are blood measurements, not health outcomes. In the same trial, a separate paper found improved cognitive test scores in the group that received hyperbaric oxygen compared with a group that received no intervention, but the study had no sham chamber and only the people scoring the tests were kept unaware of who had been treated.[18] A third paper from the same trial found a small improvement in aerobic fitness (VO2max) in the group that received hyperbaric oxygen, again against a no-intervention control group rather than a sham.[19] The three papers described here from the Israeli trial of adults aged 64 and older (the telomere, cognition and fitness reports) state that they were funded by a research grant from the Sagol network for neuroscience or by the research fund of Shamir Medical Center, and several of their authors work for or hold a financial stake in a company, AVIV Scientific, named in the papers' conflict statements.

In searches of PubMed and Europe PMC on October 1, 2026, we found no controlled study by another research group that measured telomere length or senescent immune cells after a course of hyperbaric oxygen therapy sessions. A 2011 study that followed divers exposed to hyperbaric oxygen and an age-matched comparison group for 12 months (Shlush 2011) reported longer telomeres in two types of white blood cell in the divers, and mildly longer telomeres in one of those cell types in the comparison group as well.[21] We read only its abstract. It studied diving exposure and did not test therapy sessions.

In searches of PubMed, Europe PMC and ClinicalTrials.gov on October 1, 2026, we found no randomized trial in people without a diagnosed condition that reported an effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on a biological age score, such as an epigenetic clock or a composite index, or on length of life. That result does not cover telomere length or senescent cell counts, which this page reports separately as blood measurements. Two Russian studies compared hyperbaric oxygen with other treatments, such as dry carbon dioxide baths, and reported effects on a biological age index. One, in 110 people of different age groups (Myakotnykh 2016), described a positive influence of hyperbaric oxygen and of carbon dioxide baths on the index, along with safety limitations and contraindications.[22] The other, in 320 men aged 35 to 92 with illnesses of several organs (Gerasimenko 2014), reported an effect of gas treatments as a group, which included hyperbaric oxygen.[23] We read only their English abstracts, which describe no random assignment, give no figures for the index, and do not say how biological age was measured or who funded the work.

A randomized study of two hyperbaric oxygen pressures and epigenetic age, in adults aged 40 to 70 and open to healthy volunteers, was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov in 2022 (NCT05297019; the registry lists its sponsor, TruDiagnostic, as industry). As of October 1, 2026, the registry record showed an unknown status and no posted results, and a Europe PMC search for the registration number found no published report.[24] Trials in people with a serious illness or injury have counted deaths, including the radiation-injury trials described above. Those results are about survival with that condition and do not show whether hyperbaric oxygen changes length of life in people without it.

Does HBOT help autism or long COVID?

A 2016 Cochrane review included one trial, in which 60 children with autism spectrum disorder were randomly given hyperbaric oxygen or a sham treatment. It reported no improvement in social interaction, communication, behavior or thinking skills, and more side effects with hyperbaric oxygen, mainly minor ear injuries from pressure.[25] A 2025 review pooled 17 studies in 890 children and adolescents with autism (Tu 2025), both randomized and non-randomized, and reported lower symptom scores with hyperbaric oxygen.[26] Its authors described the included studies as poor in quality and highly varied. We read only its abstract and its PubMed record, which carries the authors' statement that they have no known competing interests. An earlier trial randomized 62 children with autism aged 2 to 7 to 40 one-hour sessions at 1.3 atmospheres and 24% oxygen or to slightly pressurized room air, and analyzed 56 of them (Rossignol 2009).[27] It reported better physician-rated scores for overall functioning in the treated group. Changes in total and subscale scores on a behavior checklist were similar between the two groups, except that more children in the treated group improved on irritability. That pressure and oxygen level are lower than in the hyperbaric oxygen therapy this page describes. The study was funded by the International Hyperbarics Association, and eight of its eleven authors reported earning income from hyperbaric treatment in their practices.

Three placebo-controlled trials of hyperbaric oxygen for long COVID that we read disagree: one 40-session trial, whose conflict statement lists two authors as working for a company, AVIV Scientific, and one as a shareholder in it, found improved cognitive test scores, and two 10-session trials, in which no author reported such a link, found no benefit over a placebo treatment.[28][29][30]

Does HBOT speed recovery from sports injuries or muscle soreness?

A 2005 Cochrane review of 9 small trials in 219 people reported, in its abstract, no significant difference in time to recovery, functional outcomes, pain or swelling in one trial of ankle sprain, and no difference in knee function scores in one trial of knee ligament injury.[31] Its full text also reports two secondary results that favored hyperbaric oxygen, one from each trial: a larger improvement in an ankle function score, which the review says should be interpreted cautiously because the scale has not been validated, and better knee pain scores at two weeks.[31] The knee trial did not state how many people were in each group, so the review assumed seven per group, and the two-week pain result was no longer significant when it assumed eight in the hyperbaric group and six in the comparison group.[31] In a pooled analysis of four of its seven trials of exercise-induced muscle soreness, which used the groups given hyperbaric oxygen right away after exercise, healthy male volunteers given it reported more pain than the comparison groups, by about 0.9 points at 48 hours and 0.7 points at 72 hours on a 0 to 10 scale (92 volunteers analyzed).[31] The difference at 24 hours was not significant.[31] Of the other three soreness trials, one reported no difference in soreness at 24, 48 or 72 hours (a raw difference at 72 hours was no longer significant after correction for testing several outcomes).[31] Another reported soreness back to baseline by day three in the hyperbaric group while it was still raised in the comparison group, with apparently no significant difference in its overall results over time.[31] For the third, the review found the pain results unclear and incomplete, so it could not confirm that trial's report of enhanced recovery for pain sensation with hyperbaric oxygen.[31] The review's authors concluded that the evidence was insufficient to establish the effects of hyperbaric oxygen on these injuries.[31] The review called the clinical significance of the modest pain differences unclear.[31]

A 2026 review included 10 randomized trials in 299 people (Luo 2026).[32] It found no significant overall benefit of hyperbaric oxygen for exercise-induced muscle soreness. Its abstract reports significantly less soreness with sessions above 2.0 atmospheres absolute and with 100-minute sessions, and no significant effect with 60-minute sessions. The abstract also lists sessions at 2.0 atmospheres absolute or below as reducing soreness, but the interval it prints for that subgroup lies on the opposite side of zero from the other two, so the direction of that result is unclear. Its authors also reported faster recovery on a muscle-injury measure that the abstract does not name. We read only the abstract, which does not say how many of the trials contributed to each result, how that measure was taken or who funded the review.

A 2021 review of 10 studies in 166 physically active healthy adults (Huang 2021) pooled six of them, in 69 people, across several outcomes, with some analyses covering fewer studies, and found no significant effect of hyperbaric oxygen given before exercise on performance, or given after exercise on recovery.[33] Its authors wrote that hyperbaric oxygen during exercise could improve muscle endurance performance, based on studies they could not pool, and that this needs to be confirmed. Most of the studies had 20 or fewer participants, and 149 of the 166 participants were men. The review was funded by a Chinese national research program and a university laboratory in Shanghai.

Risks and side effects

A 2017 review describes middle ear barotrauma, injury from pressure changes in the ear, as one of the most common side effects of hyperbaric oxygen.[34] A Cochrane review of radiation-injury trials found ear barotrauma far more likely with hyperbaric oxygen than with no pressurization, and not more likely when the comparison group also received a sham pressurization.[11] In a review of over 18,000 treated patients, about 15% had an ear-related (otologic) adverse event, and reported barotrauma incidence in the wider literature ranges from about 2% to 84%, depending on the population and how it was measured.[35][34] A Cochrane review of radiation-injury trials found temporary reduced visual acuity was also more likely with hyperbaric oxygen than without it; a separate review reports that this short-sightedness has been seen in 25% to 100% of people after several weeks of daily treatment, and that it usually reverses within 3 to 6 weeks after treatment stops, though it can take as long as 6 to 12 months.[11][34] Oxygen-toxicity seizures are rare: older estimates put the rate near 1 in 10,000 treatment sessions, and more recent evidence puts it closer to 1 in 2,000 to 3,000 sessions; one large single-center study of over 62,000 sessions found a seizure rate of about 1 in 8,945 sessions.[34][36] Confinement anxiety is reported in about 8 of every 10,000 treatments in single-person chambers, and lung oxygen toxicity is not expected from routine daily sessions.[34]

In this table, Not established means the sources cited in that row describe the risk but do not give a rate. Rates in this table come from different studies, settings and ways of measuring, and are not directly comparable across rows.

Fire risk

In 'Follow Instructions for Safe Use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Devices - Letter to Health Care Providers' (August 25, 2025), FDA said it 'is aware of reports of serious injuries and deaths with use of HBOT devices' and that 'While the FDA believes that serious adverse events associated with HBOT devices are rare, health care providers and users should be aware that these events can and do occur and should follow the manufacturer's instructions to help reduce potential risks.' FDA letter to health care providers

In 'Follow Instructions for Safe Use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Devices - Letter to Health Care Providers' (August 25, 2025), FDA told providers and facilities: 'Be aware that there is a heightened risk of fire with use of oxygen at a high concentration.'

FDA's page 'Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Get the Facts' (FDA page content current as of July 26, 2021; no longer on FDA's website; archived copy, January 2, 2025) said: 'When HBOT chambers are used for indications cleared by the FDA, HBOT is generally safe, and serious complications are rare.' It listed potential risks including 'Ear and sinus pain', 'Middle ear injuries, including tympanic membrane rupture', 'Temporary vision changes' and 'Lung collapse (rare)'. Archived copy of FDA's 2021 page

If you have severe symptoms, call 911 or seek emergency care. Report side effects to FDA MedWatch.

Who should not have hyperbaric oxygen therapy?

An untreated collapsed lung is considered an absolute contraindication, because the pressure changes during treatment could worsen it.[34] A StatPearls reference chapter, last updated in May 2025, also lists an untreated collapsed lung (pneumothorax) as an absolute contraindication.[38] The chapter calls chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, uncontrolled high fever (above 39 °C) and a past spontaneous collapsed lung relative contraindications, and says pregnancy has traditionally been considered one.[38] According to the chapter, active upper respiratory tract infections and severe sinus infections increase the risk of pressure injury to the sinuses and inner ear, claustrophobia may be a contraindication depending on how severe it is, and implanted devices should be pressure-tested to make sure they work under high pressure.[38] It also flags some medicines: using doxorubicin at the same time may increase its risk of heart damage, disulfiram may increase the risk of oxygen toxicity, and cisplatin is a relative contraindication because it may impair wound healing.[38]

This list is not complete, and a licensed clinician should assess anyone's personal risk before treatment.

Administration methods

According to the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, clinical treatment is given in either a single-person (monoplace) chamber or a multi-person (multiplace) chamber.[3] In a single-person chamber, the whole chamber can be filled with near-100% oxygen that the patient breathes directly, or with compressed air while the patient breathes oxygen through a mask or hood.[3] In a multi-person chamber, the room is filled with compressed air and patients breathe near-100% oxygen through masks, head hoods or breathing tubes.[3]

According to the society, most conditions it recognizes are treated with a series of planned daily sessions over four to eight weeks, while some emergencies are treated once or over a few days, and a few emergencies need more than one session a day.[3]

In one trial in adults with diabetic foot ulcers, each session had 5 minutes of pressurization breathing air, 85 minutes at 2.5 ATA and 5 minutes of depressurization, in a multi-person chamber where the study gas was given by mask.[5]

How are soft "mild" hyperbaric chambers different from medical HBOT?

The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society said, in a position statement revised in 2018, that it was not aware of any reliable clinical evidence that mild pressure below 1.4 atmospheres has any therapeutic effect, and that it does not recommend mild hyperbaric therapy for any medical purpose other than acute mountain sickness.[39] The same society also says it does not endorse home hyperbaric therapy at any time, and that low-pressure air chambers deliver no more oxygen to the body than breathing oxygen through a mask at normal sea-level pressure.[39] A 2009 autism trial at 1.3 atmospheres is described under autism.

How are home soft chambers different from clinical hyperbaric oxygen therapy?

The soft, low-pressure fabric chambers marketed for sports and alternative medicine, which some people buy for home use, operate at less than 1.4 atmospheres, are designed to be filled with air only, and do not meet the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society's definition of clinical hyperbaric oxygen therapy.[39][3]

The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society's 2023 indications manual says many people buy mild hyperbaric chambers for their home with no guidance on the potential for catastrophic events, and warns that when oxygen concentrators are added, oxygen leaking into a chamber at 23.5% or higher may have potential catastrophic results, because oxygen makes fire more intense and faster to spread.[3]

Based on the sources we read, hyperbaric oxygen therapy as the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society defines it takes place in a hard-sided chamber built to national pressure-vessel and fire-safety standards, under a physician's oversight with trained staff monitoring each session, and the society does not endorse home therapy at any time.[3][40][39]

The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society's 2023 indications manual says mild hyperbaric sessions typically last an hour or less, and that treating the conditions hyperbaric oxygen is accepted for in mild chambers is inadequate and ineffective.[3]

We did not find a pressure of 1.3 atmospheres for soft chambers in the society documents we read; the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society describes soft chambers as operating at less than 1.4 atmospheres.[39][3]

How long does a hyperbaric oxygen therapy session take?

According to the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, medical hyperbaric oxygen sessions typically run 90 to 120 minutes, under a physician's prescription and oversight; the society's own documents give two different pressure thresholds for what counts as medical hyperbaric oxygen, 1.4 atmospheres in one place and 2.0 atmospheres in another, so no single figure can be stated as the standard.[3][39] The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society's 2023 indications manual gives 2.0 to 3.0 atmospheres absolute (ATA) as the most common clinical treatment pressures, with the pressure for each treatment set by the guideline for that condition in the manual.[3]

The society's 2025 guidance for patients says treatment must be supervised by a physician actively involved in the patient's care, and that patients must be continuously watched and listened to by trained staff throughout each session.[40] The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society's 2025 patient guidance says clothing must be issued by the facility or approved by its hyperbaric safety coordinator; 100% cotton and cotton/polyester blends are allowed, with no more than 50% polyester in a single-person chamber, and silk, wool and synthetic fabrics stay out of the chamber unless the hyperbaric physician and safety coordinator approve them.[40] The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society's 2025 patient guidance says any electrical or static-generating device must be kept out of the chamber, products that give off flammable vapors must be excluded, and patients in single-person chambers using 100% oxygen should wear grounding straps to eliminate static discharge risks.[40] Before each treatment, the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society's 2025 patient guidance calls for a safety time-out to confirm the patient's identity, treatment plan and readiness.[40]

We did not read the fire-safety code for hyperbaric facilities, NFPA 99, so this page does not list every item a facility may prohibit; ask the facility what to wear and what to leave behind before the first session.

Whether hyperbaric oxygen therapy may be appropriate for a specific person is decided by a licensed clinician.

Before you schedule, ask the facility what it requires, including whether it needs a referral or an order from your clinician.

How long until results?

The studies cited on this page, as far as we read them (full texts for some and abstracts only for others), do not state how soon a person will notice results from hyperbaric oxygen. They report when outcomes were measured, which ranged from right after a session to one year later, depending on the condition.

In adults with diabetic foot ulcers, individual trials measured their main result at 12 weeks in one trial and at one year in two others.[5][6][7]

In the 2002 trial of hyperbaric oxygen for acute carbon monoxide poisoning, thinking and memory were tested right after the first and third sessions, and again 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 6 months and 12 months after enrollment.[16]

For sudden hearing loss, the 2019 US guideline's timing is about when to start: within 2 weeks of the hearing loss, or within 1 month as a salvage option; we did not read how many sessions the trials behind it used.[10]

Sessions, pressures and timings are what each study used, not a recommended course for any person; several of these trials found no benefit from hyperbaric oxygen, so a course length says nothing about whether the treatment works.

In this table, ATA means atmospheres absolute and kPa means kilopascals; 1 ATA is about 101 kPa, and each pressure is shown in the unit the study reported.

The three papers described here from the Israeli trial of adults aged 64 and older (the telomere, cognition and fitness reports) state that they were funded by a research grant from the Sagol network for neuroscience or by the research fund of Shamir Medical Center, and several of their authors work for or hold a financial stake in a company, AVIV Scientific, named in the papers' conflict statements.

How much does hyperbaric oxygen therapy cost (per session)?

We do not list prices for hyperbaric oxygen therapy on this page yet. Prices vary by facility.

What a facility charges can depend on the type of chamber and setting, how many sessions are ordered, what each session includes, and whether insurance applies.

Ask each facility what its price includes and whether it is charged per session or for a set number of sessions.

To browse providers in the Recovery & performance category, go to Provider directory.

Does insurance or Medicare cover hyperbaric oxygen therapy?

Coverage varies by plan and can depend on the reason it is ordered. Confirm coverage, and any prior authorization, with your insurer.

When we checked on September 30, 2026, Medicare's national coverage policy for hyperbaric oxygen (National Coverage Determination 20.29, version 4, in effect since April 3, 2017) listed 15 covered conditions.[41] Among the 15 covered conditions in Medicare's National Coverage Determination 20.29 are acute carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression illness, gas embolism, gas gangrene, cyanide poisoning, radiation damage to bone or soft tissue as an add-on to standard treatment, long-lasting bone infection that has not responded to standard medical and surgical treatment, and some diabetic wounds of the lower limbs.[41]

For diabetic wounds, the policy requires type 1 or type 2 diabetes with a lower-limb wound caused by diabetes, a wound of Wagner grade III or higher, and a failed adequate course of standard wound care, and it lists hyperbaric oxygen as covered only as an add-on after at least 30 days of standard wound care with no measurable signs of healing.[41]

The policy also requires the wound to be evaluated at least every 30 days during treatment, and says continued hyperbaric oxygen is not covered if measurable signs of healing have not been shown within any 30-day period.[41]

Medicare's National Coverage Determination 20.29 says no Medicare payment may be made for conditions not on its list.[41] National Coverage Determination 20.29 names 22 conditions it does not cover, including thermal skin burns, cutaneous, decubitus and stasis ulcers, multiple sclerosis, arthritic diseases, senility, and nonvascular causes of chronic brain syndrome (Pick's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Korsakoff's disease).[41]

The policy does not state a number of sessions, a session length or a treatment pressure.[41]

Questions to ask your insurer include whether the reason your clinician orders the treatment is covered, whether prior authorization is needed, and whether the facility is in your plan's network.

Which conditions do hyperbaric chamber clearances cover?

Hyperbaric chambers are FDA-regulated medical devices; clearance covers specific products and uses, not every use offered.

Hyperbaric chambers are regulated by FDA as medical devices (Class II). The FESL, FEDL and FETL FINK Chambers (Fink Engineering, K240569) were cleared through FDA's 510(k) process for prescription use for 'The conditions listed as appropriate for the use of HBO recognized by the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society's (UHMS) Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Committee Report'. The clearance lists 13 conditions, including 'Air or gas embolism', 'Carbon monoxide poisoning and carbon monoxide poisoning complicated by cyanide poisoning' and 'Decompression sickness'.

Hyperbaric chambers are regulated by FDA as medical devices (Class II). The Revitalair 430F portable hyperbaric chamber (Oxavita S.R.L., K171899) was cleared through FDA's 510(k) process for prescription use: 'to treat acute mountain sickness under the prescription of a health professional. The medical device is designed for use at physician offices and health institutions.'

Do you need a prescription for hyperbaric oxygen therapy?

FDA records we reviewed for hyperbaric chambers, checked September 28, 2026.

FDA's page 'Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Get the Facts' (FDA page content current as of July 26, 2021; no longer on FDA's website; archived copy, January 2, 2025) said: 'be aware that some claims of what it can do are unproven. For example, HBOT devices are not proven to cure cancer, Lyme disease, autism or Alzheimer's disease.' Archived copy of FDA's 2021 page

Regulatory status checked September 28, 2026. Sources: www.govinfo.gov/…/CFR-2025-title21-vol8-sec868-5470.xml; www.govinfo.gov/…/CFR-2025-title21-vol8-sec807-97.xml; www.accessdata.fda.gov/…/K240569.pdf; www.accessdata.fda.gov/…/K171899.pdf; www.fda.gov/…/follow-instructions-safe-use-hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-devices-letter-health-care-providers

What should I ask a provider before starting hyperbaric oxygen therapy?

These questions come from the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society's 2025 patient guidance and, for diabetic foot wounds, from Medicare's national coverage policy.[40][41] They are prompts for a conversation with a licensed clinician, and they do not show whether hyperbaric oxygen is appropriate for you.

• Which physician will supervise my treatment, and is that physician actively involved in my care?
• What training in hyperbaric medicine does the supervising physician have?
• How will staff watch and listen to me during each session?
• Is a safety time-out done before each treatment to confirm my identity, my treatment plan and that I am ready?
• Who issues or approves the clothing I wear in the chamber, and which items do I have to leave outside?
• How many sessions are planned for my condition, and what review is done if more than the usual number is proposed?
• If I have a diabetic foot wound, what is its Wagner grade, and how long has it gone without measurable healing on standard wound care?
• How often will my wound be evaluated during treatment, and what happens if it shows no measurable healing?

Provider directory

The link below opens the Recovery & performance category of the provider directory.

None of the cleared indications we reviewed for hyperbaric chambers covers slowing aging, longevity or general wellness. They name specific conditions, such as carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness or acute mountain sickness (checked September 28, 2026).

Find a Provider

A licensed clinician decides whether treatment is appropriate. Treatment is not guaranteed.