What is the difference between regular oxygen, saturated oxygen and hyperbaric oxygen?

Oxygen therapy and oxygen health care usually have three types of oxygen supplementation methods available: general oxygen inhalation, atmospheric saturation oxygen inhalation and hyperbaric oxygen. Normal oxygen inhalation is the most commonly used method of oxygen delivery, generally using nasal plugs, nasal cannula or face mask oxygen inhalation, the actual oxygen concentration of inhaled oxygen can be up to 45% to 50%. Saturated oxygen inhalation is a special oxygen inhalation method that is nearly double the concentration of ordinary oxygen inhalation. It circumvents the “half-open” phenomenon of losing some oxygen from the nose during ordinary oxygen inhalation, and can increase the dissolved oxygen in the blood of oxygen inhalers by 6 times, which greatly increases the oxygen supply of the body. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can increase the dissolved oxygen content in human plasma by more than 14 times, and has some other special therapeutic effects, the most significant effect of improving the body’s hypoxia. However, whether to receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy needs to be decided by a specialist. In addition to the indications and contraindications, there are also some restrictive requirements in the process of oxygen supplementation, such as the patient must wear cotton clothing into the cabin, cannot bring electronic products such as cell phones, MP3, iPad, etc., to concentrate on the cabin treatment, the cabin activity space and the way are restricted, and cannot enter and leave at will in the middle of the process. In terms of oxygen therapy effect after oxygen inhalation, hyperbaric oxygen > saturated oxygen > general oxygen inhalation, and there is a significant “ladder” difference between the three; in terms of convenience and accessibility of oxygen inhalation, general oxygen inhalation > saturated oxygen > hyperbaric oxygen. In terms of convenience and accessibility, general oxygen > saturated oxygen > hyperbaric oxygen. The choice of oxygen therapy for an individual needs to be based on the condition and status of the oxygen user and the available oxygen conditions at the time. In general, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is preferred for ischemic-hypoxia related diseases; saturated oxygen can be considered if hyperbaric chamber is not available or the patient is not suitable for hyperbaric treatment or there may be more risks of harm than benefit in hyperbaric state; general oxygen is the most accessible form of oxygen for almost all people. For patients with specific disease states, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with carbon dioxide storage, continuous low-flow, general oxygen administration is generally appropriate, and hyperbaric and saturated oxygen therapy is usually not recommended. It is worth mentioning that saturated oxygen is a kind of oxygen supplementation especially suitable for the health care needs of subhealthy people, and its oxygen therapy effect should be inferior to hyperbaric oxygen, but significantly better than ordinary oxygen, and can also significantly improve the symptoms of hypoxia. Specific oxygen intake program, for most people, it is generally advocated to inhale oxygen once a day for no more than 1 hour, stopping for 5 minutes in the middle of each inhalation, and inhaling oxygen 10 to 20 times continuously. If we want to go deeper conceptually, saturated oxygen intake actually has a broad and narrow definition. In a broad sense, saturated oxygen can be divided into atmospheric saturated oxygen and high-pressure saturated oxygen according to the different environments in which oxygen is administered, the latter being “hyperbaric oxygen”. The saturated oxygen absorption we usually refer to refers to the atmospheric saturated oxygen absorption, in the “narrow sense”.