Teen Fighting For Life After Vaping Left Lungs Like Broken Glass

Lina Portman3 days ago

0 2 minutes read

Updated July 4, 2024, 7:30 PM IST

A 19-year-old woman was diagnosed with vaping-induced lung injury, or EVALI, a potentially deadly condition, after her lungs looked like broken glass. According to doctors treating her, the girl’s chest X-rays showed “ground-glass opacities,” indicating severe damage from pneumonia or other respiratory illnesses. Read on to learn more about the condition.

EVALI describes an acute respiratory illness caused by the toxic effects of chemicals used in vaping

A 19-year-old woman was left fighting for her life after her lungs felt like “broken glass” from vaping. Doctors treating her say the woman suffered from severe shortness of breath, chills, coughing and a high temperature for a week before she was treated.

He was initially diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia after chest X-rays showed “ground-glass opacities” in his lungs. Doctors say these findings indicate severe damage from pneumonia or other respiratory diseases. The term also comes from a glass-making technique that involves sandblasting the surface of the glass to give it a cloudy or frosty appearance. Normally, the lungs appear black on X-rays and CT scans, but fuzzy gray areas suggest that the air sacs in the lungs may be filled with fluid or other substances.

Doctors were shocked by the diagnosis

Despite antibiotic treatment, her condition did not improve and further testing diagnosed the student with vaping-induced lung injury, or EVALI. EVALI refers to an acute respiratory illness caused by the toxic effects of chemicals used in vaping.

Vaping simulates smoking. Battery-powered vaping devices create an aerosol that looks like water vapor, which contains nicotine, flavorings, and more than 30 other chemicals, which are inhaled into your lungs and pass into your bloodstream.

Doctors say the e-cigarette-induced illness causes an atypical viral disease, the most common symptoms of which are shortness of breath, severe cough, persistent chest pain and high fever.

“When the pulmonologist asked about her tobacco use, the patient reported vaping e-cigarettes in the past month. “The patient reports daily use of e-cigarettes that her boyfriend gave her,” doctors wrote about her case in a report published in Medscape.

Once EVALI was diagnosed, he was given steroids, which improved his symptoms.

“Public health reports show that approximately 2,600 patients were hospitalized due to EVALI in 2020, signaling the beginning of a small outbreak of EVALI cases across the United States,” the report authors added.

According to experts, EVALI develops suddenly and lasts only a short time or progresses gradually and steadily over a longer period of time. Severe cases can be fatal. EVALI is also serious because about 90% of reported EVALI cases require hospitalization or can be fatal.

Regular use of e-cigarettes and vaping causes EVALI, which causes lung inflammation and scarring. According to experts, vapes are loaded with vitamin E acetate, a synthetic form of vitamin E, which is added to e-liquids that contain THC or tetrahydrocannabinol. THC is the main chemical in marijuana that gets you high. Vitamin E acetate is safe to ingest or apply to your skin as a lotion or cream, but it can damage your lungs when you heat it and inhale it as a vapor.

Doctors don’t know if EVALI is reversible. However, studies indicate that its damage may be reversible if you stop vaping and seek treatment from a healthcare professional.