Apparently some guys lungs collapsed due to vaping?

[timinftl]

So I saw on the news that this guys lungs collapsed due to vaping and he had to have an emergency operation. He was apparently vaping on something called a juul. Never even heard of a juul until now. Is there actually any real evidence that his lungs collapsed due to the vaping though? Apparently they found little black dots on his lungs.

Here is the news article: Teen’s lung collapses after vaping

Before this gets out of Hand,
Anybody in medicine is already aware that its not uncommon at all for spontaneous pneumothorax to present in young people with thin builds.
No it doesn't happen every day but it does happen more often than people in general know.
Cheers

 

[timinftl]

The kid had a sponteneous pneumothorax, and is a relatively common occurance. A spontaneous pneumothorax is the sudden onset of a collapsed lung without any apparent cause, such as a traumatic injury to the chest or a known lung disease. A collapsed lung is caused by the collection of air in the space around the lungs which can make breathing difficult and uncomfortable.

The subject simply had a chest tube inserted to reinflate the lung. Although it is what is called an invasive procedure, it is not considered "major surgery". In fact it is commonly done at the bedside without anesthesia.

Spontaneous Pneumothorax | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

As far as the "spots on the lung", I've seen plenty of normal lungs in surgery that had "spots" on them. It's not necessarily a sign of pathology. I spent over 30 years working as a surgical physician's assistant (PA) in the operating room. Most surgeons would call spots like that a "normal variance" (like some people have freckles and some do not).

Miami Children's here lol

 

[Baditude]

Miami Children's here lol

Retired surgical first assistant PA, 31 years of service in Cincinnati.