![]() ![]() Her shoulder was mildly tender, but had its full range of movements. There was still slight swelling, mottling and redness of her upper arm. By that time the symptoms had almost gone, although mild pain persisted in her upper arm. They reached the doctor’s rooms about two hoursafter surfacing. They were advised to see a local diving doctor to treat possible skin bends. The diver and her companions suspected decompression illness (DCI) and contacted the DAN hotline. She was given oxygen for about 30 minutes and one hour after surfacing, the symptoms had markedly decreased. Other than that, she felt well and had no tingling in her hands and feet, no weakness, no headache or confusion, and she did not feel breathless. She developed itching, swelling, mottling and a purplered discolouration of the skin on her upper arm. The divers surfaced and one of the most experienced in the group felt pain in her right shoulder on removing her wetsuit. The first dive of this particular day was to a maximum of 18 m and lasted about an hour. They were fit and healthy, but starting to tire after this intense period of work. Some of the divers on the team had been ill and could not dive, so the other team members were working harder to get things done. The area where they were diving, on the coast of South Africa, was very familiar and they knew the conditions. The divers were experienced, having done “thousands” of dives in many locations around the world. Diving depths were up to 20 m with a lot of variation in depth – going up to get a better view and then down again to assist in another aspect of the work. For the last 10 days, diving had taken place with two or three dives daily, each lasting 45 to 60 minutes. ![]() The diving and visibility had been good and the filming of marine ecosystems was progressing well, but deadlines had to be met, so every opportunity to get shots had to be taken. In this article, we look at the different forms of skin bends and what to do when you think you might be affected. ![]() Skin problems in diving can have various causes, including decompression illness. ![]()
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