I’m a doctor – this is why I believe vaping is much worse than smoking cigarettes: ‘It barbeques your lungs!’

A doctor has warned that vaping “roasts the lungs” and increases the risk of lung transplants in young people.

Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, an eye surgeon in Beverly Hills, California, took to TikTok last week to explain why vaping is more dangerous than smoking cigarettes.

“Vaping temperatures can be significantly higher than cigarette smoke, so vaping could literally be roasting your lungs,” he said in the video, which has 6.3 million views. “(This could) explain why more young people who vape need lung transplants compared to younger people who smoke cigarettes.”

Most doctors still say vaping is safer than cigarettes, which have been unequivocally linked to cancer and release thousands of known killer chemicals.

But a growing body of research suggests that vaping also poses serious long-term health risks, especially to the lungs and heart.

Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, an eye surgeon in Beverly Hills, California, took to TikTok last week to explain why vaping is more dangerous than smoking cigarettes. “Vaping temperatures can be significantly higher than cigarette smoke, so vaping could literally be roasting your lungs,” he said in the video, which has 6.3 million views.

Federal data suggests that about 14 percent (more than 2.5 million) of American youth in grades 6 to 12 vape, while another study reported that one in 20 American adults vape. That compares to only one in 10 tobacco smokers.

Earlier this year, the American Heart Association (AHA) warned that the cocktail of nicotine, thickeners, solvents and flavors in vaping devices poses greater risks to heart health than smoking cigarettes.

Long-term exposure to diacetyl and acetylpropionyl, two flavoring additives, has been linked to difficulty breathing, chronic cough, asthma, and airway obstruction.

Experts have also warned against secondhand vaping.

Scientists from universities in Virginia and North Carolina reported that when e-cigarette users smoked in their cars for less than 10 minutes, the air around them became laden with possibly poisonous particles known specifically as PM2.5 (denoting a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller).

PM2.5 can be generated from natural and man-made sources, such as the burning of fossil fuels. When inhaled, the material penetrates the lungs and irritates the entire respiratory system, potentially causing or worsening asthma, bronchitis and intense wheezing.

The matter is small enough to enter the bloodstream, which can cause system-wide inflammation that increases the risk to cardiovascular health.

Vaporizers that do not have nicotine can also cause “e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury,” or EVALI.

The exact cause of the injury is still not completely clear, but researchers have since focused on the compound vitamin E acetate, which is often used as a thickening agent in illegal cannabis vaping devices.

Dr. Boxer Wachler pointed to a 2022 study published in the journal Critical reviews in toxicologywhich found that of 11,350 patients with lung damage from vaping, half vaped both nicotine and THC, the ingredient in cannabis that gives users a “high.”

However, more than a third of patients vaped THC alone, while 17 percent vaped nicotine.

“Any type of vaporizer can cause lung damage,” said Dr. Boxer Wachler.

“Please don’t vape.”

There is no test to determine if someone has EVALI, so the diagnosis is based on symptoms, which include difficulty breathing, fever, chills, cough, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, rapid heart rate, and pain in the head. the chest, according to the American Lung Association (ALA).

EVALI has caused some heartbreaking health problems. A 34-year-old woman from Ohio, who consumed about eight cartridges of vaping liquid each week, the equivalent of 50 cigarettes a day, found herself on life support within 24 hours of going to urgent care for breathing problems.

In another terrifying case, a 20-year-old woman from the United Kingdom named Abby Flynn developed a rare lung disease, called “popcorn lung,” that doctors warned could have left her dependent on an oxygen machine before she turned 30. .

Federal data suggests that about 14 percent (more than 2.5 million) of American youth in grades 6 to 12 vape, while another study reported one in 20 American adults vape. That compares to only one in 10 tobacco smokers.