Nurse Brent Robinson and Dr. Shelly Larson show off a hyperbaric chamber, which is used to treat a variety of ailments, including diabetic ulcers and crush injuries. Butler Health Systems has two chambers at its Wound Center in the Benbrook Medical Center.

At the height of his fame in the 1990s, Michael Jackson was rumored to sleep in one. Former Steelers player Hines Ward reportedly has a portable one for his private use.

But hyperbaric oxygen chambers aren’t just for pop stars and Super Bowl winners.

Hyperbaric oxygen treatment is available to nonfamous people suffering from a variety of ailments including diabetic ulcers, crush injuries and failed skin grafts.

In fact, Butler Health Systems has two chambers at its Wound Center in the Benbrook Medical Center’s Suite 210, 102 Technology Drive, according to Sandy Teitelbaum, the center’s program manager.

The two chambers are used, Teitelbaum said, in a two-hour treatment where “oxygen at 100 percent is being delivered at pressures greater than sea level. It’s proven effective for certain types of medical problems.” These conditions, she said, include radionecrosis, or tissue damage caused by cancer-fighting radiation treatments, and osteoradionecrosis, radiation therapy damage to the bones.

In the chamber, she said, “100 percent oxygen is delivered into the bloodstream and treats the condition. There’s more blood flow to that area and it increases collagen production, suppresses bacteria grown and encourages the growth of new, small blood vessels.”

Brent Robinson, one of the nurses at the wound center, said placing patients in an environment where the air pressure is twice as dense as normal helps the oxygen go deeper into the patient’s body to kill bacteria and dilates the patient’s blood vessels to deliver the oxygenated blood faster and more efficiently.

Teitelbaum said the procedure can only be administered by a physician and it has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and Medicare.

“It’s an outpatient treatment. We can see four to six patients a day,” she said. “Every patient is evaluated by physicians before a treatment.” She said the wound center schedules 30 to 45 sessions a month.

“People get healthier and they heal. We have a lot of success with the treatment,” she said.

Of course, dealing with 100 percent oxygen in a pressured environment calls for special precautions.

Teitelbaum said cellphones, matches and any reading material is forbidden, as is makeup, perfume, deodorant and hairspray on the patients.

Patients are able to watch a television placed outside the room with the chambers as they undergo their two-hour sessions.

Robinson said one of the side effects is pressure on the inner ear. “You can usually clear it by yawning,” he said.

Robinson said the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen treatments have been known since the 1960s.