Magnets and Diving

Raven

I recently (<2 weeks ago) got my magnetic implant. I am also a scuba diver.

I wanted to be sure of what to keep in mind about the magnet, particularly the healing process when it came to diving.

I contacted DAN (Divers Alert Network) a non-profit organization dedicated to Medical and other dive related emergency research and response. 

Here's the conversation I had with their medic (names redacted) in case anyone else might happen to be a diver and get a magnet.

(conversation in comments to not exceed character limit)

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Raven

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Hi there, I have what's probably a fairly unusual question. I've recently had an experimental body modification performed where a small paralyne coated magnet was subdermally implanted under the skin of one of my fingertips. A small incision was made, some space opened up, the magnet inserted, followed by a single stitch to close the incision. I was wondering how long you think I should wait before diving?

It's been just under two weeks so far - the bruising is mostly gone, there's still a little bit of a dark red mark from where the suture was, and at certain angles it's still slightly tender, but mostly it's close to being back to normal.

The individual that installed it suggested a two week wait, but pointed out that he's not very familiar with dive medicine. 

Thank you

[Raven]

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[Raven],

Thank you for contacting Medical Services of Divers Alert Network. Your question regarding a magnet implant relates to wound healing. Open skin, regardless of the etiology, is a pathway to infection, and sea water is a soup of microbial contaminants.

Your fingertip should be completely healed, including all stitches removed, prior to a return to diving. Typical time will vary with the individual, but could vary from 2 to 4 weeks, as long as there are no complications (such as infection).

Fingers are very sensitive areas, and you should also be able to adequately work all scuba gear (inflation valves), recover a scuba regulator, etc. -- the standard skills of any diver. If tenderness in the particular finger is limiting motion or activity, it would be best to wait a little longer before returning to the water.

All of the above assumes a "snug fit" of the magnet within the skin, and no residual air pocket. Any air surrounding the magnet must have been resorbed by the body, and skin/tissue regrown to fill any gaps. Air spaces will contract and expand during diving, whether in the ears, lungs, or your finger tip.

Please call or email with additional questions or for more information.

[Medic]

DAN Medical Services

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[Medic],

Thank you very much for that information. 

It's in my non-dominant ring finger so it's a fairly rarely used finger and only uncomfortable to apply pressure at certain very specific angles and points. As such I expect it to not be an issue of preventing me from performing any tasks, and the external wound seems to be closed; so should be alright from that aspect.

In any case my intend is to start off with a shallow (~20ft max) beach dive to make sure everything is okay, before I do anything deeper.

I do have one more question though - you mention making sure there's still no air trapped under the skin . There is no obvious signs that there might be: no bubble or anything like that. Would it be obvious if there was air still under the skin? The magnet seems to be pretty snugly in there, but is there a way to make sure? Anything specific to check for?

Thank you 

[Raven]

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[Raven],

 

Thank you for the quick reply.  You specifically mentioned during the procedure,  “some space opened up” to insert the magnet.  The human body tends to not like open cavities that are not a part of normal physique (lungs, ears, sinus passages, GI system), and generally fills such cavities relatively quickly with fluid, tissue, bone – whatever is appropriate to that space.  I would not expect a significant pocket, and if healing is from the inside-out, as occurs with normal granulation tissue, the space is filled as it heals.

 

On a percentage basis, the greatest pressure changes are within the first 30 feet of a dive.  So you should be able to detect pain fairly quickly.  As the space would first be compressed, it should only expand to its original volume.

 

Just curious -- May I ask why you had a magnet inserted into your finger?

 

[Medic]

Tellari

First let me say that I am glad you brought this question up. I too am an Open Water Diver and was contemplating getting a magnet once my career choices allow it. I am VERY interested to know how your diving with the magnet fares and whether there are complications as different depths. 

This topic does not just affect a magnet implant, but any implants that someone receives. As our tech and capabilities get better so will the variety of implants and something to keep in mind will be "non-standard" environments. 

side note -- I was wondering if the medic was going to ask why. :)

Raven

I did a shallow beach dive (~20 fsw max) on Monday, which was 15 days after getting the magnet. Worth noting is that my incision was very well done and healed pretty fast, so your mileage may vary.
The only slightly uncomfortable part was when I first put my gloves - dry neoprene is can be stiff and rubbed on the scab, but once it was wet it was fine.. 
After the 2 hour dive (in salt water) the area around the scab turned white and after a few hours the scab and surrounding skin started to peal off revealing fresh new skin... so if anything it seems like it helped lol. 

Raven

As far as other implantable devices with diving I would be concerned with some of the components potentially containing trapped air.. At the very least i'd try taking the same circuit down to a significant depth (but within your diving limits) unimplanted and inspecting it for any crushed or collapsed components.

To those unfamiliar with diving the concern is that ambient pressure increases by a full atmosphere every ~33 feet (~10 meteres) as you descend under water. So at a reasonable depth of 100 feet (~30m) the ambient pressure is 4 times higher than regular atmospheric pressure. Any component that contains some air (e.g. a magnetic reed sensor, sealed switch, etc)  would contain it at 1ATM, creating a 3ATM (~44psi) pressure difference, which would easily crush anything not meant to withstand that pressure.

Tellari

Another piece to that concern is that even without a full failure of the item containing air at depth. Any damage weakens the structure and upon returning to the surface the air will expand back to original which could case the already weakened structure to fail. 

I like your idea of taking the item to depth and checking for any air leaks or component failures. At the same time you would need to make sure that the component is coated and ready for implant when entering the water. I know some people have mentioned putting their implants into hollow containers. Is it possible to encase a component in a rounded gel-type coating? That would not only seal the item, remove sharp edges (which would cause less damage to internal tissue), and it allow for any gaps to be filled (not including the internal spaces of components.

I hope that made sense.

Raven

I think I understand what you're saying. Let's for the sake of discussion pretend we have a basic electronic implant - a battery, a magnetic switch, and an LED, the LED lights up when you pass a magnet over the switch. The magnetic switch contains and encapsulated airspace and is a crush risk.

You are suggesting placing the assembly into a sealed capsule of some sort and filling the capsule with some material - say silicone. 

The question is whether the switch would get crushed despite being coated in silicone.

Do I understand correctly?

I'm not sure without testing. But in theory the silicone could well transmit the pressure difference to the switch and crush it inside the silicone... which would protect your tissues from glass, plastic, and metal shards, but would render the implant inoperable.


Notably switches, whether magnetic or not, would be an obvious item of concern for pressure differences - I'm not sure what switches don't require an airspace to work... 

Saal

There are polymers which equalize pressure differentials to a certain extent, although I'm not sure how available they are to consumers