A man who smoked a hole in his lung has called on other young people to quit e-cigarettes.
Joseph Lawrence, 25, who lives in Las Vegas, revealed he had been smoking the fruity flavored devices daily for years.
But earlier this month he suddenly found himself struggling to breathe and was rushed to hospital, where scans showed he had a hole in his lung.
The hundreds of irritants in e-cigarettes can cause inflammation that damages the lining of the lungs, which can increase the risk of the complication even months after quitting vaping.
A collapsed lung occurs when there is a hole in the lung that allows air to flow into the vacuum – an area that contains no matter – between the lung and the chest wall, causing the lung to collapse. The condition is rarely fatal and can be treated in hospital.
Mr Lawrence wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘If you vape, please consider quitting. I recently had a hole in my lung and had to be rushed to the ER because I couldn’t breathe.
Joseph Lawrence, 25, who now lives in Las Vegas, said he suffered a collapsed lung after using vapes
He is pictured above with one of the devices, which he says he puffs on almost every day
‘Luckily I’m doing well (now) and it hasn’t completely collapsed.’ He added: ‘Take care of yourself and consider quitting, it’s not worth it.’
He is one of many Americans to suffer from the injury, after a vape addict from Florida also revealed he suffered from the complication. In another case, a 19-year-old in West Virginia said his lungs collapsed four times.
Many vapes are poorly regulated and produced in China, and have flooded the US in recent years as the FDA has struggled to regulate the market.
Mr Lawrence did not reveal what type of vape he used, but said he had been smoking the devices for years. He also smoked cigarettes occasionally.
He said doctors believed fumes had caused the injury.
Mr Lawrence (right) is pictured above holding a cigarette. He also smokes occasionally
Vapes have skyrocketed in popularity in the US, with an estimated 8.1 million Americans – including 3 million middle and high school students – now puffing on them every week.
A collapsed lung prevents the organ from properly inflating and deflating to push air in and out, causing patients to struggle to breathe and experience stabbing chest pain and a rapid heart rate.
The condition is rarely fatal, but doctors say it must be treated quickly to prevent the hole from getting worse or oxygen levels in the blood from dropping, which can damage internal organs.
It is treated by placing a tube in the chest to suck air out of the vacuum and repair it – while giving the lung enough time to heal and close the hole.
Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, an intensive care physician at Johns Hopkins in Maryland, previously told DailyMail.com: ‘Inflammation will compromise the lungs.
‘If you vape over and over again, you cause the walls of the lungs to lose their integrity, become more flexible and in the right situation this results in a rupture.’
Dr. Galiatsatos, also a spokesman for the American Lung Association, said he has already seen two young patients with underlying conditions suffering from the same condition.
Vapes were previously heralded as an excellent way to help people who smoke kick the habit.
But with the advent of fruitier flavors, they’ve attracted a whole generation of young people hooked on the devices.
Studies are now beginning to suggest that vaping may not be better for the lungs than traditional cigarettes because they also contain toxic chemicals.