Vaping made my lungs collapse twice at age 20 - now they're permanently scarred trends now
A 20-year-old vaping addict has been told she may not survive to her 40th birthday after the near-constant urge to vape led her to burn two holes through her lungs.
Karlee Ozkurt, of Wisconsin, picked up the habit in 2018, at 15 years old, because she thought it made her look 'badass.' She soon relied on the device so much that she was smoking an entire 600-puff device per day.
Doctors told her to quit vaping after her right lung first collapsed in November 2021, which left her feeling like the organ was 'on fire'.
But after three months of 'on and off vaping,' she began using the devices fulltime again — only to suffer a second collapse in her right lung a year later.
Because of her serious condition, doctors then had to fuse the lung to her chest wall in the hopes of avoiding any more collapses, and they urged her to stop vaping.
Ms Ozkurt returned home after the procedure in November 2022 but says she is still struggling to quit because she is so addicted to the high from nicotine.
Karlee Ozkurt, now 20 and from Wisconsin, said she picked up vaping in school at the age of 15 so that she would look 'badass'
Pictured above is one of Ms Ozkurt's vapes. She said she was a fan of Elf bars for their fruity flavors, such as blueberry and watermelon
Ms Ozkurt said: 'You never think this type of thing will happen to you — but it happened to me. It felt like my lung was on fire.
'I fell into the trap of thinking vaping was cool — but it’s stupid. I didn’t realize until it was too late.
'And the worrying thing is, I still don’t know whether I’ve done irreparable damage because we’re unaware of the long-term effects.
'I could die at 40 or 50 — and all because of a five-year habit I was peer-pressured into.'
Ms Ozkurt said she became addicted to Elf bars, disposable vapes that have flavors like blueberry, watermelon and grape.
She told DailyMail.com she has now managed to go two weeks without vaping — but feared she may use the device again.
Originally marketed as a way to quit smoking traditional cigarettes, studies are starting to suggest vapes are no less dangerous, citing a mixture of more than 7,000 chemicals in the toxic smoke.
People can also puff on the devices hundreds of times per day, raising their risk of conditions including cancers and high levels of inflammation in the lungs — which can damage the organs.
Tobacco use among 11- to 18-year-olds has risen by almost a quarter compared to last year, estimates suggest. The CDC warns, however, against the comparison because in 2021 the surveys had to be done from home due to the pandemic. This may have affected the results
