Many high school students today prefer vaping instead of smoking cigarettes. In 2013, almost three times the students preferred smoking instead of vaping. Today that has flipped dramatically. Almost all students who use tobacco today vape instead of smoking cigarettes. But are there consequences to vaping later in life?

“Vaping is genuinely safer and healthier than smoking” is a false statement. Vaping has become an extremely popular practice among high school students in just the past year, but what students do not understand are the health risks that they are taking. It appeals to high school students for various reasons, including the addictive nicotine, the sometimes fruity flavor, or simply the image it gives the user.

Vaping is essentially using an “e-cigarette”. They contain nicotine solutions which are vaporized. New studies are claiming that “e-cigarettes” could potentially contain cancer-causing chemicals in the vapor. While nicotine and cancer-causing chemicals are dangerous enough, the effects of vaping are generally unknown.

The human body has a system used to heal. When vaping, this process is impaired. Fibroblast cells repair damaged tissue in an unexposed human body, but when in contact with vapor from “e-cigarettes”, some do not properly heal a wound. This causes defaults in the healing process of the body and a higher tendency to get cancer earlier in life.

Additionally, a common side effect of smoking is “smoker’s cough”. Currently, a common side effect of vaping that is appearing is “vaper’s cough”. When the lungs come into contact with pollution, they are irritated. This irritation causes the lungs to exert a cough which humans are often unable to recover from. Extreme irritation can cause bronchitis in some cases, and the airways transferring oxygen to the lungs become irritated. This not only affects the lungs, but it can also affect breathing patterns.

Without an increased amount of users, vaping and “e-cigarettes” flaws would not have been revealed, and the dangers would be hidden. Vaping, although rising in popularity in high schools, presents many consequences that might cause you to end up in your deathbed quicker.