Approach to underwater accidents and diseases – Part 2

Abstract

In the first part of our article in the last issue of the journal, we wrote about how large the coastal and inland waters of Turkey is, and that the health problems that may be experienced in this regard will increase in parallel with the increase in water-related activities. We divided the health problems to be experienced in diving-related activities into 5 categories, and we discussed the first category, about the health problems that can be experienced while on the water surface or at any time of diving. Those in this category were health problems that can be experienced during non-diving aquatic activities also. In this article, we discussed about the problems in various cavities of the body (landing barotrauma) caused by the pressure increase during the downward descent, the problems to be experienced while at the bottom (nitrogen narcodis, the toxicity of oxygen that can create a pulmonary or cerebral effect), the expansive barotraumas that occur with the increase in volume while the pressure decreases during the ascent, and finally the types of bends. We discussed about the long-term side effects that diving professionals may experience, especially if diving for too long periods of time.