SCUBA diving dangers: ear injuries.

My brother kakao-talked me that he ruptured his eardrums during his last dive... ouch? A quick visit to the hospital showed that while his eardrums are thankfully intact, he damaged his middle ear from coming up to surface too fast.

drinking out of diving goggles to celebrate his first dive

To make matters worse, he is flying to Tampa in a few hours. 24 hours have passed since his last dive (as per guidelines), but the altitude changes may be uncomfortable for his ears.

But he may count himself lucky to have such a little injury. Arterial Gas Embolisms may occur when air diffuses into the capillaries from torn alveoli in the lungs. Decompression sickness, or the "bends" are they are more commonly known, occur as nitrogen bubbles into the blood veins, often causing pain in the joints. I have a friend who swears she has a permanent headache from a dive couple of years ago!