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
Isobaric counterdiffusion in the literature by Harvey in 1977 as divers switched from a nitrogen mixture to a helium mixture (diffusivity of helium is 2.65 times faster than nitrogen), they quickly developed itching followed by joint pain. Saturation divers breathing hydreliox switched to a heliox mixture and developed symptoms of decompression sickness during Hydra V. More recently, Doolette and Mitchell have described ICD as the basis for inner ear decompression sickness and suggest "breathing-gas switches should be scheduled deep or shallow to avoid the period of maximum supersaturation resulting from decompression". It can also happen when saturation divers breathing hydreliox switch to