The first privately-owned hyperbaric oxygen facility in Arkansas has opened its doors.

The therapy is sometimes used in hospitals to help wounds heal--but this new clinic is not treating wounds. Instead, it's treating what's known as “off-label indications” like autism and brain injuries.

We first introduced you to Tera Clark last year, when she took her first steps after being hit by an impaired driver in 2005. The now-25-year-old suffered--among other things--a traumatic brain injury, broken neck, collapsed lung and broken bones.

Tera made amazing progress, but when her recovery started to plateau, her mother decided to try a new avenue: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

(Tera Clark, Patient) “It looks like a tanning bed. You go lay down, and it helps with your speech and your focusing and all that--so it helps my brain. It's really exciting.”

(Jeana Halter, Tera's Mother) “We are six weeks into the process now, and we've seen great improvements with memory, her cognitive skills, her ability to ambulate. Her joints have loosened up drastically. So I've been very pleased with it.”

Dr. Gary Villines opened The HBO Clinic in west Little Rock in June. The treatments he offers are not covered by insurance because the clinic only uses the oxygen therapy for non-FDA approved uses.

(Dr. Gary Villines, The HBO Clinic) “Most of these have to do with neurological problems--brain injuries, stroke, cerebral palsy, potentially for autism.”

Dr. Villines says the two most common side effects are claustrophobia and trouble equalizing pressure in patient’s ears.

(Villines) “We can't promise that this will be of miraculous benefit, but there's enough evidence out there to show this is at least worth trying.”

Dr. Villines hopes to have Tera walking unassisted within a year.

Since he can treat patients in a private setting, and has less overhead than a hospital, he usually charges less than $200 per treatment.

For more information on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, click here.

To see Heather Crawford's 2007 report on Tera Clark's first steps, click here.