History of head injury and diving

[brighteyesLC7]

I broke a bunch of bones in my face four years ago including orbits and sinus bones. I haven't dove since. I have been free diving once or twice since without pain and can still equalize. I'm just curious if anyone with experience in dive medicine would have any specific recommendations for how to get back into diving safely?

 

[TSandM]

Well, your biggest issue would be equalizing. (I'm assuming that you had no brain injury and no neurologic sequelae from the accident.). Testing that would be easy -- grab your dive gear and get in a swimming pool with a deep end. If you can go up and down in the pool several times without any problems, then it is unlikely that you have an anatomic problem that will give you trouble underwater.

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi brighteyesLC7,

You make no mention of injury to brain, but with trauma severe enough to cause the damage you have described it could be a possibility.

If there was such, you may want to read the following thread from this forum which devotes considerable discussion to issues of diving following central nervous system injury -->

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/diving-medicine/428171-20-months-ago-i-couldnt-spell-pneumothorax-now-i-have-had-one.html#post6424498

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[brighteyesLC7]

Thanks to you both. I did have a TBI. I had mild sub-arachnoid hemorrhaging. None of the bleeding or fractures required any surgery. My only lasting problems from the TBI are some issues with focusing when I have a lot of distractions (working memory) and losing my sense of smell. Will check out that other post though!

 

[Akimbo]

They told me that a head injury was required to be a diver!