Ozone therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) are both treatments that utilize oxygen but in different forms and methods to achieve health benefits.
Ozone Therapy: Ozone therapy involves the administration of ozone gas—a molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms—into the body. This can be done through various methods, including direct injection into tissues, intravenous delivery, or via transdermal methods. Ozone acts as a pro-oxidant, stimulating the body's antioxidant defenses and improving oxygen utilization. It is thought to activate immune response, enhance circulation, and kill pathogens. Ozone therapy is used for a variety of conditions, including infections, chronic inflammation, and autoimmune diseases.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT): Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized room or chamber. Under these conditions, your lungs can gather up to three times more oxygen than would be possible breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure. The blood carries this oxygen throughout the body, helping to fight bacteria and stimulate the release of substances called growth factors and stem cells, which promote healing. HBOT is commonly used to treat decompression sickness (a hazard of scuba diving), serious infections, bubbles of air in your blood vessels, and wounds that won’t heal as a result of diabetes or radiation injury.
In summary, while both therapies increase oxygen availability to tissues, they do so through very different mechanisms and are used for different indications based on their distinct physiological impacts.