I quit vaping at 19 — after my lungs collapsed 4 times

A teen says his six-year vaping habit caused his lungs to collapse four times — and made them look like he’s been smoking for 30 years.

Draven Hatfield said he started vaping when he was 13, thinking it was a “neat trend” — and ended up vaping through a disposable pen every two to three days.

The construction contractor’s guilty pleasure came to a crashing end when he experienced severe chest pains and cramps down his side in October 2021, and he was rushed to the hospital.

Hatfield, who lives in West Virginia, was reportedly told he was suffering from a spontaneous pneumothorax — or a collapsed lung — which happens when air is trapped between the lung and the chest wall.

“The specialist said that it developed air bubbles on my lungs, and they’d burst and would leak air, and that would cause my lung to collapse,” Hatfield explained to Jam Press.

After spending a painful week connected to a chest tube, Hatfield went back to work and started hitting the vapes again — admitting he didn’t associate his collapsed lung to his habit. He said the same thing happened a week later.

The vape enthusiast claimed after the third time his lung collapsed, he talked to a specialist, which is when he decided to quit vaping.

“The fourth time [my lung collapsed] I was just sitting there one day at school, and I felt it, I knew it had happened again,” he recalled.

“On the way to the hospital everything was looking good, and when I got there they had to do surgery on me,” he continued. “It involved attaching the wall of my ribs. There’s a chemical process of attaching. They scrape the air bubbles off my lungs.”

Although the teenager has recovered from surgery, he confesses it’s had a lasting effect on him.

He said he still feels pain in his chest on the side his lung collapsed and often experiences lower back problems.

“I hurt pretty bad sometimes, and I have scares. I feel like my lung will collapse again, but then I realize it’s just the pain,” he said.

Hatfield reveals he has quit vaping for good, crediting nicotine gum for weening him off. He’s now spreading awareness of the dangers of vaping.

“I’ll never touch a vape or smoke again,” he vowed. “I’m very positive that vaping has done the damage, my specialist and lung doctor were also positive on that.”