Decompression (diving) If the concentration gets too high, it may reach a stage where bubble formation can occur in the supersaturated tissues. When the pressure of gases in a bubble exceed the combined external pressures of ambient pressure and the surface tension of the bubble-liquid interface, the bubbles grow, and this growth can damage tissue. If the dissolved inert gases come out of solution within the tissues of the body and form bubbles, they may cause the condition known as decompression sickness, or DCS, also known as divers' disease, the bends or caisson disease. However, not all bubbles result in symptoms, and
Decompression practice of stops the diver is willing to carry out. A procedure for dealing with omitted decompression stops is described in the US Navy Diving Manual. In principle the procedure allows a diver who is not yet presenting symptoms of decompression sickness, to go back down and complete the omitted decompression, with some extra added to deal with the bubbles which are assumed to have formed during the period where the decompression ceiling was violated. Divers who become symptomatic before they can be returned to depth are treated for decompression sickness, and do not attempt the omitted decompression procedure as the