Yahoo News Fitness fanatic, 20, shares horrifying images of how vaping 'destroyed his lungs'
A 20-year-old fitness fanatic who had to have some of his lung cut away has blamed his condition on vaping.
Sean Tobin was diagnosed with a collapsed lung in July after he suffered from a stabbing pain in his back while working.
He went on to have surgery that saw doctors cut away a small portion of his lung then staple it back together, before gluing it to his chest wall to stop it collapsing again.
The 20-year-old has now shared images taken before his surgery that show the surface of his lung covered in black spots that he claims were carbon deposits caused by vaping heavily for the past five years.
Tobin, from New Hampshire in the US, first started vaping in 2018 and claims at the height of his habit he was getting through one 5,000-puff disposable vape a week.
He said his vape "never left his hand" for five years, and he would use it constantly from morning until night, alongside occasionally smoking cannabis and THC oil.
The electrician's apprentice said doctors who treated him in July confirmed that vaping was likely the cause of his collapsed lung.
Tobin said seeing images of the black-mottled organ was extremely "scary" as he had always been healthy – visiting the gym up to seven times a week and training as a mixed martial arts fighter.
Read more: MP's alarm after eight children taken to hospital because of vaping
He said he "shouldn't have started vaping" as he was "so healthy" before – and is now upset with himself for damaging his lungs.
He said: "I started vaping when I was 15 and the vape never left my hand. It was very, very habitual.
"When I stepped up into the van [for work on 20 July], it felt like I pulled a muscle in my back. The tension there was pretty bad.
"I went to the hospital and they did an x-ray of my lungs. The radiologist read my report and they told me I had a collapsed lung.
"It was really scary, because I felt like I'd done it to myself. It was years of me just not treating my lungs how they should be treated."
Read more: Why is the government giving free vaping starter kits to smokers?
He added: "They put a camera in my chest cavity for the surgery, and I saw what they said were carbon deposits in the lung.
"It was a scary thing to see. As soon as I saw it, I got very upset with myself. I was very sad and thought, 'I did this to my own lung.'
"My cardio was so good. I was so healthy and I shouldn't have started vaping.
"I was just very upset with myself, and I was having a hard time. I'd permanently damaged my lungs, and I was here because I'd done this to my lungs."
Tobin said he was now facing a month-long recovery period and was unsure of the long-term effects vaping has had on his lungs.
He admitted that while he had seen videos of vapers whose lungs had collapsed he thought it would never happen to him as he was in "really good shape".
"They said that I should make a full recovery, and even though I lost part of my lung it wasn't a large amount," he said.
"I can't smoke or vape ever again. It's a big risk if I do.
"I remember seeing TikTok videos of a guy with a collapsed lung from vaping, and I was like, 'That's not going to happen to me. This dude's a bum, and I'm not.' And then it happened to me.
"You never think something is going to happen to you, until it happens to you."
What does vaping do to your body?
While vaping is generally accepted to be less harmful than smoking cigarettes, it is also known that vapes are a relatively new product so their impact on health is not yet fully known.
Last October, studies funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that long-term use of electronic cigarettes, or vaping products, could significantly impair the function of the body's blood vessels, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease.
Cancer Research UK says that while there is no strong evidence that vaping causes cancer, e-cigarettes are not risk-free.
Read more: Woman, 23, rushed to hospital with collapsed lung after vaping
Its website reads: "They can cause side effects such as throat and mouth irritation, headache, cough and feeling sick.
"These side effects tend to reduce over time with continued use. We don't know yet what effects they might have in the long term."
Cancer Research UK also has advice on EVALI – e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury – but it said than an investigation into an outbreak of the illness in 2019 in the US had found the cases were linked to "contaminated illegal products" rather than regular or long-term vaping.
It added: "There was no similar outbreak of EVALI in the UK, and the chemicals of concern are banned in e-cigarettes in the UK. There is no good evidence that legal e-cigarettes in the UK cause lung disease."
