A teen girl from the UK experienced a life-threatening medical emergency when her lung collapsed due to excessive vaping, equivalent to the consumption of 400 cigarettes a week.
The incident took place on May 11. Kyla Blythe, a 17-year-old teen suddenly turned blue and collapsed during a sleepover at a friend's house.
The collapse was due to a ruptured pulmonary bleb, a small air blister on her lung, necessitating a five-and-a-half-hour surgery to remove the affected part of her lung.
The recent scare has left her determined to avoid vaping entirely.
When I was 15, it started becoming a popular thing. All my friends were doing it. I just thought it would be harmless and that I would be fine.Kyla Blythe
Kyla started vaping at the age of 15, influenced by her peers and believing it to be harmless. She had been using an entire 4,000-puff vape per week, unaware of the harmful effects.
The rising popularity of vaping among children is a growing concern, with data from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) indicating that the number of children who have tried vaping nearly doubled to 20% in 2023.
It was terrifying for me. I've cried like a baby. It was horrible to watch. I've been with her the whole time. It was life-threatening. It did threaten her life because she was so close to having a cardiac arrest on that Friday. They said she went blue. They thought she'd gone.Mark Blythe (Kyla's father)
Alarmingly, even children under five are being hospitalized with collapsed lungs due to vaping. Besides lung damage, vaping poses risks of stunted brain growth in teenagers due to the presence of toxic chemicals like lead and uranium.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Dr. Pragati Priya/MSM)