Diacetyl is frequently added to flavored e-liquid to enhance the taste. Inhaling diacetyl causes inflammation and may lead to permanent scarring in the smallest branches of the airways — popcorn lung — which makes breathing difficult.
People with vaping illness, also referred to as vaping-associated lung injury, have symptoms that can be mistaken for the flu. These can include shortness of breath, dry cough, chest pain, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and high levels of inflammatory markers in the blood.
E-cigarettes produce a number of dangerous chemicals including acetaldehyde, acrolein, and formaldehyde. These aldehydes can cause lung disease, as well as cardiovascular (heart) disease. E-cigarettes also contain acrolein, a herbicide primarily used to kill weeds.
Understanding whether the lungs can heal from any damage vaping might cause may depend on the extent and type of damage. The lungs can regenerate some damaged tissue . However, when damage is too extensive, it may be permanent.
These studies suggest that vaping increases airway resistance but does not appear to impact forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), or FEV1/FVC ratio.
Management and Treatment
The damage from popcorn lung can be severe and reversal isn't always possible. Management is likely to be more effective if your provider catches the disease early. The first thing you should do is avoid exposure to the chemicals that cause popcorn lung.
Cardiac Surgeon Lucian Durham warns inhaling a single puff from a vape could make you his next patient at Froedtert and Medical College of Wisconsin. The lung damage he has seen in patients is the equivalent to someone smoking cigarettes for decades. "It literally can kill you the first time you try it," he says.
What is popcorn lung? Popcorn lung (bronchiolitis obliterans) is an uncommon type of lung disease, but it is not cancer. It's caused by a build-up of scar tissue in the lungs, which blocks the flow of air. A possible link has been suggested between the disease and a chemical called diacetyl.
However, it typically takes years, even decades for those conditions to develop. But with vaping, we're seeing lung damage developing in much less time; often under a year.
Vaping and Popcorn Lung
Diacetyl is frequently added to flavored e-liquid to enhance the taste. Inhaling diacetyl causes inflammation and may lead to permanent scarring in the smallest branches of the airways — popcorn lung — which makes breathing difficult. Popcorn lung has no lasting treatment.
If You've Vaped Too Much...
The most common and least serious situation is being nauseous or having a headache after vaping too much. Usually, if you stop vaping you'll feel better soon. It is key, though, to stop as soon as you feel any symptoms - if you try and power through it you'll only feel worse.
“While there is growing evidence to show that vaping is a risky behavior with potential long-term health consequences for users,” says Hariri, “our research also suggests that quitting can be beneficial and help to reverse some of the disease.”
A chest X-ray or computed tomography (CT) scan is usually necessary for diagnosis and will show hazy looking spots (called opacities) in the lungs. This contrasts with a clear back space in healthy lungs. Your doctor may also order bloodwork to rule out other possible causes of your illness.
Many studies show that vaping is far less harmful than smoking. This is because e-cigarettes don't contain cancer-causing tobacco, and most of the toxic chemicals found in cigarettes are not in e-cigarettes. Some potentially harmful chemicals have been found in e-cigarettes.
But what is clear is that e-cigarettes have been found to have chemicals and particles that have been linked experimentally to lung disease, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Vaping can also cause lung inflammation, which has been linked to chronic lung disease as well.
A smoker typically puffs on a cigarette around 10-15 times before putting it out, so let's be conservative and estimate that puffing on a vape 15 times is approximately equal to smoking one cigarette. If that's the case, then a disposable vape that delivers 600 puffs is equal to about two packs of cigarettes.
Smoking and vaping, even in small amounts or only sometimes, can be harmful to your health while also increasing your chances of becoming addicted. Even if you're only smoking or vaping sometimes, the effects can be just as risky to your health as a daily smoking habit.
Benefits of vaping
Vaping can help some people quit smoking. Vaping is usually cheaper than smoking. Vaping is not harmless, but it is much less harmful than smoking. Vaping is less harmful to those around you than smoking, as there's no current evidence that second-hand vapour is dangerous to others.
Although most cases of honeycomb lung are seen in chronic lung disease, it can also occur in a minority of patients with acute interstitial pneumonia and diffuse alveolar damage [31, 32]. This disease is progressive by the day or week, and the result is often fatal.
1: Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it's still not safe.
While the name "popcorn lung" may not sound like a threat, it's a serious lung disease that causes coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath, similar to the symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Dentists can't tell just by looking at your teeth if you're a constant vaper, but they can tell that you're consuming nicotine. The most prominent signs of a person who smokes or vapes are: Nicotine and saliva combine to cause yellow and brown stains on the teeth. Dry mouth and cracked or split tongue.
There is no real "normal," and the puffs per day don't matter. The acceptable daily intake for nicotine varies based on several modes of life and biological factors. Since the system to calculate nicotine intake per puff isn't an exact science, it's better to satisfy your needs.
Many young people think vaping is harmless because they don't inhale smoke. But that's not true. The mist from vaping can contain very addictive nicotine and harmful chemicals. Young people often become smokers by developing a nicotine habit through vaping.