Diveimage

Thought I’d share this….

Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to do a fantastic dive on the Moldavia off the UK south coast.

The dive went pretty much without incident, no stops were missed but I still ended up in the pot for 5 hours after developing a skin bend..

My buddy (Fred) and I did the same run times. I was running my Evolution with the latest software plus a non integrated VR3 set to SP 1.25 for extra conservatism.
We did approx 35 mins bottom time and then a total run time of 74 minutes as I did all the stops the VR3 told me to, much to Fred’s disgust as he was running on the vision software alone which had him out of the water when my vr3 said I still had another 5 minutes stops to go..

The only part of the dive which I can think may have contributed to my final skin bend, was during the last few stops my dry suit partially flooded L

I felt fine after the dive, if a bit wet from the dry suit flood. It wasn’t until approx 3 hours after the dive when changing in the hotel that I notice a rash down one side of my torso. Thinking back to after the dive I now remember itching slightly but paid it no attention at the time, as I was pretty wet from the dry suit flood.

Anyway I spent a fun filled 5 hours at RN Hasla and now feel fine and my rash has gone. The doctor at Hasla said I'd just been unlucky..

Speaking to various dive friends it appears that these random skin bends do happen however, this is a first for me after some 12 years of diving & I must say a bit unsettling..

Cheers

Simon

Abbo

Sucks that! Similar thing happened to me today:
I followed the VR3 VPM till it cleared, then made a leisurely swim at 4.5m for 5 or so minutes to the shore. During my lunch I did a stretch and remember thinking 'oops, that's done it'. Twenty minutes later I took my shirt off to suit up and saw a red patch on my stomach. What made it clear it was a skin bend was the skin was slightly hard, like when you have a rash. I wasn't going to tell the dive shop I needed a chamber lest I get banned: they don't like rebreather divers in Japan at the best of times. I hopped back in the water with a PO2 of 1.2 and did 20 mins at each of 15m, 12, 9, 6 and 4.5m, then stayed there till I ran out of O2. I don't suppose it was wildly responsible of me, but I figured he would only put me on O2 and watch me anyway.

Arguably I should get checked for a PFO now

Rick Inman

Any change in your symptoms after the self-administered in-water re-compression?

Abbo

Initially completely clear. Now 6:30hrs, and I have a small itchy patch again under left arm. Thanks for the reminder.

Abbo

Sorry, I kind of pinched your thread.
Yes, I have been diving since '81, and this is the first thing even resembling a problem. If you dive enough I suppose it will happen someday. For any profile, there is going to be a normal distribution of incidence: the trick for the writer of tables is to balance the wish to cut incidence down as low as possible with the need for the tables to be practical. You obviously don't need me to tell you that the only way to obviate the risk is to stay out of the water. What I found interesting was my denial: I knew I had skin bends; I just didn't want to have to call a doctor....yup, it'll probably clear up naturally....Shoot, I'd better take a long book with me tomorrow morning...

RedDucati

"That itchy feeling"
reminds me of my last trip to Mexico. There was this pretty seniorita and...

jepuskar

Please get checked for a PFO.

jradomski

question did you just do the deep stop that the vr3 requested and then head up to the ceilings allowed by either the vr3 or vision??

I have only had 1 case of skin bends (belly and bicepts) and that was following proplanner which is pretty much whats in a vr3.. I found that if I followed the vr3 profile as it was laid out I felt like crap afterwards, but if I followed something that had continuous deep stops (every stop depth) I felt fine, but the vr3 really didnt like it so in the end I would exit the water with time remaining on the vr3, but my explorer and HH would be long clear and I would feel fine, extra deco is not necessarily better it depends on where it is..

Most cases of skin bends resolve themselves.. I don't know anyone that has been treated for it.. I was on OC at the time when I got mine... The itching was bothering me (I had no other dcs symptoms) so I jumped in the water with 100% and sat at 4.5m for 1hr, then used whatever o2 was left at 3m.. all gone.. both places where I had skin bends my circulation was probably restricted.. (very tight wetsuit on my bicepts, and waist belt was too tight)

__________________
Joe Radomski
CCR Trimix Instructor Trainer
ANDI Instructor Trainer Director #10

All posts are personal opinions and DO NOT reflect any affiliated agency unless specifically stated.

Abbo

Thanks for this. The bureaucracy in Tokyo means it is likely to be a few days before a doctor can meet me, by which time there will be nothing for them to inspect, so it is a relief to know that there is unlikely to be lasting damage from being forced to leave it untreated. I have had my bottom spanked for selfishly diving deeper than rec limits...

Mixaddict

OK Joe, I buy the story about the wetsuit being too tight around your waist, but you don't really expect us to buy that it was too tight around your bicepts do you??:) (Sorry, couldn't resist that one!)

__________________
Randy Thornton
TDI Training Advisory Panel member

CCR Cave Instructor & Advanced Trimix Instructor Trainer- Hammerhead, Sentinel, Inspiration, Evolution, Optima, & Prism 2
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