Skin bend

Skin bends, medically called cutis marmorata, is a cutaneous manifestation of decompression sickness in divers and other people exposed to rapid drops in ambient pressure. It appears as a mottled or marbled discoloration of the skin, usually around the shoulders, upper chest, and abdomen, often with itching, and can include swelling with tiny scar-like pitted depressions in the skin. Some affected people also report itching around the ears, face, neck, arms, and upper torso, or an unusual sensation described as tiny insects crawling over the skin. The mottling results from bubbles of dissolved inert gas, mainly nitrogen or helium from breathing gas, coming out of solution within the skin tissue itself as surrounding pressure falls, forming visible bubbles in areas with subcutaneous fat. Clinically it must be told apart from a dry suit squeeze injury, which instead produces linear lines of redness and possible bruising, whereas decompression related marbling has no linear pattern and occurs specifically where subcutaneous fat is present.