Lung Tissue Damage From Vaping

A large number of people are still convinced that vaping, at least when compared to smoking, is some sort of “safe vice”, but just how true is that, exactly? Were you aware of the fact that some people with EVALI, a health condition caused by vaping, suffer total lung failure?

With the number of EVALI cases rising, along with other respiratory health issues caused by vaping, it is worth it to take a much closer look at vaping and the dangers it can pose to our health, particularly when it comes to our lungs.

In this article, we will explore just how serious lung tissue damage from vaping can be, but first, we’ll take a look at how exactly vaping works, to lay down a foundation of understanding as to why vaping does what it does to our lungs.

How Does Vaping Work?

In order to understand why and how lung tissue damage from vaping is caused, we first need to understand how vaping works. And in order to understand how vaping works, we first need to understand what vaping devices and e-liquids are.

Depending on the maker and model of the vape device in question, certain things related to design may differ, but in essence, most vaping devices share the same main components across the board.

First, a battery is a mandatory part of the vaping device. Without it, there is no power for the device to use. The battery makes the device portable and as such, easy to carry and use pretty much anywhere.

There are three types of batteries that a vaping device can have:

1. Rechargeable - Typically used in more expensive vaping devices, this type of battery can be recharged through a charging cable connected between the device itself and an electrical outlet.

1. Replaceable - This type of battery is single-use, meaning that the vaping device uses its power and, when it is fully drained, the spent battery is removed and a new battery is inserted into the device.

1. Single-use - This type of battery is neither rechargeable, nor replaceable, meaning that once it runs out of power, the device is no longer able to be used. This type of battery is mostly reserved for the cheapest vaping devices on the market.

Another main component of vape devices is the LED light. The color of this light may vary, with some devices using red, green, blue, and more colors in their LED light. This LED light is typically used to display when the vape device is heating the e-liquid in the reservoir.

Speaking of reservoirs, the reservoir is another mandatory component of vape devices. This is the area where the e-liquid is stored in, to be heated when the vaping device or e-cigarette is used. There are three main types of reservoirs:

1. Refillable - This type of reservoir can be refilled, either while still in the device itself, or it may have to be taken out to refill with e-liquid.

1. Replaceable - Replaceable reservoirs work like a cartridge, meaning that once the e-liquid in one of them is spent, it is ejected and another, full one, can be inserted into the device in its place.

1. Single-use - Most commonly present in the cheapest vape devices, once this reservoir’s e-liquid is spent, it cannot be refilled nor replaced, and the device becomes useless.

A pressure sensor and heating element are also present. The pressure sensor detects the pressure from the user, while they are dragging on the device’s mouthpiece, and the heating element is turned on as a result and heats up the e-liquid.

The process of heating up the e-liquid turns it into an aerosol, which is then inhaled by the vape user through the mouthpiece.

Let’s now see what kind of lung tissue damage from vaping is possible, given that now we know how vape pens and other such devices work.

Lung Tissue Damage From Vaping

Our lungs are sensitive organs, and are designed to inhale fresh air, and certainly not toxic and other harmful substances.

There are many harmful substances found in the e-liquids used in vaping devices: some of them are toxic, others are carcinogenic, and others are both toxic as well as carcinogenic (a good example of this being formaldehyde, which is commonly used in the process of embalming corpses, and is also present in a lot of e-liquids).

Other substances, which may not necessarily be toxic or carcinogenic in nature, may also cause harm to our lungs in the form of scarring and irritation of lung tissue. This is because an aerosol is not a gas or vapor, and so-called vaping devices produce aerosols, not vapor.

An aerosol is basically a “cloud” of ultrafine particles, very easy to inhale deeply, and as such, very easy for them to cause harm to the sensitive lung and airway tissues.

A serious health condition known as EVALI has been recently discovered, just a few years ago. The name itself, EVALI, or e-cigarette and vape associated lung injury, denotes that this is a condition uniquely caused by vaping.

It is characterized by tissue damage to the airways and lungs. Depending on the extent of the scarring, the damage to the lungs and airways may be permanent. Symptoms range from shortness of breath and chest and throat pain, all the way to complete pulmonary failure (meaning the lungs lose all of their ability to properly function).

When inhaled, those ultrafine particles, some of which being ultrafine metal particles, may create very small cuts and scratches on the tissue of the respiratory system. With repeated exposure, this may lead to developing EVALI, which has proven fatal in at least 60 confirmed cases, and the number of deaths from this new and scary condition appears to have been growing recently.

Conclusion

Vaping is far from being a safe alternative to smoking. In fact, as presented above in this article, vaping may lead to a whole new, unique set of respiratory health problems for people who partake in it.

It is important to be aware of what we put in our bodies, and make wise choices regarding our health. That is why I encourage you, if you happen to be a vape user, to quit before it can cause potentially fatal harm.

Thank you for reading, and I wish you all the best. Take care.