totally underwater

kenyatta:

Peculiar salt-mine therapy for asthma in the Ukraine

This underground facility is situated within the Solotvyno salt mine near a small Ukrainian village of the same name, close to the Romanian border.

The therapy which takes place at Solotvyno is based on a method known as Speleo-therapy, an alternative therapy for asthma and other respiratory diseases. This therapy was discovered in Poland in the 1950s when it was noticed that salt mine workers rarely suffered from tuberculosis. Scientists found that the salt-permeated air of the working salt mine helped to dissolve phlegm in the bronchial tubes and also killed the micro-organisms which caused infections – and that this greatly helped patients who were undertaking treatment for asthma.

Patients spend an average of 24 days at the facility, using a lift to travel underground for afternoon or overnight sessions. During this time they talk, read or sleep on beds, grouped together in alcoves which are carved out of the rock and lit by fluorescent tubes.

See the rest of photographer Kirill Kuletski’s photos here.

via thingsmagazine

(via jhameia)