Boxer credits hyperbaric oxygen therapy for keeping him young — but is it safe?

Boxing champion Oscar De La Hoya, 52, recently shared a beauty secret that is raising some eyebrows.

“These lasers only making me younger and cuter … sorry fellas,” he recently posted on Instagram, along with a video of himself receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) along with a laser treatment. 

“CO2 laser + hyperbaric chamber=sexy papichulo by next week,” he went on.

While HBOT can serve as a supplement for other therapies, it is not a primary treatment for illnesses, experts emphasized.

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Fox News Digital spoke to the experts to find out whether HBOT is a safe aesthetic treatment.

What is hyperbaric oxygen therapy?

In everyday life, humans breathe in air so that blood can deliver oxygen to cells for energy — but that air is only comprised of 21% oxygen. 

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy works by pumping 100% oxygen to the tissues, which can aid in healing. (Tissues need oxygen to function normally, but they require more oxygen after injury, experts say.)

For an HBOT session, the patient enters a long, tube-shaped chamber that resembles an MRI machine. They typically lie on their back while oxygen is pumped into the chamber for one to two hours, experts confirm.

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The chamber has two-and-a-half times more air pressure than normal, the National Institutes of Health notes.

That increased pressure then “floods” injured tissues with oxygen-rich blood to help them heal.

“Exclusively relying on HBOT is not recommended.”

“Adjunctive hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has certainly gained more momentum in the medical community, assisting with the healing of severe diabetic foot ulcers, failing skin grafts/flaps and tissue severely damaged by radiation injury,” Dr. Caesar A. Anderson, medical director at UCSD Hyperbaric Medicine & Wound Healing Center in California, told Fox News Digital.

The therapy also helps to reduce inflammation and promote growth of new blood vessels, the doctor added.

However, Anderson added, “Exclusively relying on HBOT is not recommended.”

HBOT has also been shown to be effective in wound healing — “especially in burns, infections and immunocompromised patients” — and to treat carbon monoxide poisoning, according to Dr. Suzanne A. Trott, a double board-certified plastic and general surgeon in Beverly Hills.

Additionally, the treatment is often helpful for improving outcomes after surgery.

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“Oral surgeons refer patients who have had radiation for head or neck cancer and require tooth extractions,” Anderson said.

HBOT primes the radiated tissue with oxygen, which enables the body to better tolerate surgery while minimizing post-operative complications, he noted.

Trott said that in her own practice, she recommends one pre-operative and five post-operative HBOT treatments for all aesthetic and reconstructive patients — “because it really does improve recovery.”

“When you come out of it, you’ve got a nice glow, so it’s a great red-carpet treatment — but that look is temporary,” she added.

Approximately 15 conditions are approved for hyperbaric oxygen therapy by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society (UHMS).

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Some of these include carbon monoxide poisoning, burns, decompression sickness, severe anemia and severe wounds.

“Chronic refractory bone infections and/or necrotizing tissue infections are also approved indications for HBOT use, as severe anaerobic infections do not thrive in a hyper-oxygenated environment,” Anderson told Fox News Digital.

Potential anti-aging effects

The ability for HBOT to reverse or abbreviate the aging process has not yet been endorsed by the governing medical body, the UHMS, according to Anderson.

“The aging process is complex, and certainly we know that with aging, our ability to efficiently utilize oxygen on the cellular level is modified,” he told Fox News Digital.

“I don’t think we are at the point where we can just target the parts of our body that we don’t want to age.”

Past studies have shown that the treatment decreases cell death by maintaining and increasing the length of telomeres, which are extensions of DNA that prevent cells from degrading, Trott said.

“While this makes it sound like a cure-all for aging … I don’t think we are at the point where we can just target the parts of our body that we don’t want to age,” she said.

For most people, the doctor surmised, that would likely include things like maintaining skin elasticity, muscle mass, and hair volume and color.

“We have not yet harnessed the power of HBOT to visibly slow down or reverse the external signs of aging,” Trott added.

Cautions of side effects

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the treatment is generally safe and that serious complications are not common.

The increased pressure and concentration of oxygen, however, can cause middle ear infections, rupture of an eardrum, temporary vision changes and, in rare cases, collapse of the lungs, according to the agency.

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Others may experience a feeling that their ears are plugged, similar to being at high altitude or in an airplane, per Johns Hopkins Medicine.

People who are claustrophobic may have more difficulty receiving the treatment in an enclosed space.

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As some may experience headaches and feel lightheaded, experts recommend that patients have someone drive them home after the therapy.

The FDA also warns that the high concentrations of oxygen can lead to explosions or fire, which have occurred at unaccredited facilities.

To prevent this risk, experts recommend receiving the therapy only for FDA-approved conditions at an accredited facility from an experienced healthcare provider – ideally one that has been certified by the UHMS.

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In January 2025, a 5-year-old boy was killed while inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber that exploded at a Michigan medical facility while receiving treatment for conditions not approved by the FDA, as Fox News Digital previously reported.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mayo Clinic, which declined to comment. Fox News Digital also reached to De La Hoya for comment.