‘Vape Face’: A side effect making its way into the spotlight

BLAIR COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — Vaping and e-cigarettes have always been advertised as being less harmful than smoking and its full impact is not yet known. ‘Vape Face’ is a health concern that has recently made its way into the spotlight.

If you search the internet for the health effects of vaping, you’ll stumble on a number of sites like the Centers for Disease Control , Johns Hopkins Medicine , and the American Lung Association .
However, these sites mostly talk about the impact on lungs, when there’s another effect that’s more visible to the eye.

“Vaping and I have such a strong history and I’ve tried to quit many times,” Ash Bradford, a former vape user said.

Bradford lives in Australia and uses TikTok as an open and honest platform. In one of her videos online, she tried different things to quit smoking, including drowning her vape in water and chewing gum. However, months later she showed people what was happening to her face while she was vaping.

“The battles that I’ve been struggling with have definitely been around my skin and I’ve had like a history with acne before, but this was like a different kind of acne. This was like congestion. This was like stuff that I knew that I could fix if I just quit, which is better, like easier said than done,” Bradford said.

Now, even though she lives thousands of miles away, Bradford believes that she can still connect with people in the U.S. and all over the world with social media platforms like TikTok and warn them about the potential side affect’s and struggles of vaping.

Dr. Frank Michalski also uses the social media app to help people who want to quit smoking or vaping.

“I struggled with nicotine addiction for several years, whether it was to vape, cigarettes, chewing tobacco. And I never really found that there was super effective information out there to help me quit. It was always just kind of talk to your doctor. Here’s some Nicorette. Good luck. And after reading a few books regarding nicotine addiction and kind of how that works, I was able to successfully quit largely on my own. So I felt, where’s the best way to reach other people? Typically, younger people who might be struggling with vaping. High schoolers, early college students and most people are on social media,” Michalski, a Chiropractor and Certified Addiction Recovery Coach said.

Experts we spoke to said whether you vape or are considering it, it’s important to be aware of all the possible effects, and understand that medical researchers are still learning more about the health risks over time.

“The vaping now is going to be the same epidemic as what we experience with Cigarettes. For so long doctors didn’t really say how bad nicotine was and cigarette smoking was. It took years and lawsuits and millions, billions of dollars even to get that information out there and hold big tobacco accountable. It’s going to come full circle again with the vaping as they the because it’s still so new we don’t have the long term effects 100%,” Michelle Brown, a Prevention Specialist with the Cambria County Drug Coalition said.

Brown is a former smoker and vape user as well and works to help people quit with programs at the drug coalition.

The American Lung Association lists strategies that tobacco companies use to attract young adults to e-cigarettes, with a popular reason being fruit or mint flavors. According to the CDC , in 2023, 2.1 million students used e-cigarettes.

A UPMC Altoona doctor we spoke to said that even two weeks of intermittent vaping can put people at a higher risk of nicotine addiction.

“Nicotine addiction is a segway to start smoking regular cigarettes. 11 different cancers come from the smoking. Cardiovascular effects of smoking like a heart attack and a stroke and emphysema and COPD. All the bad stuff comes from addiction to smoking and basically starting vaping at a young age puts you at a much higher risk of getting addicted to the cigarette later in life,” Dr. Mehrdad Ghafarri, a Pulmonologist and Critical Care Specialist said.

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Some health effects of vaping have not been discovered yet, but there are ones like Popcorn Lung or Liquid Pneumonia that doctors have seen in recent years, and that’s why experts say it’s better to quit or not start. If you have any shortness of breath or pain from smoking or vaping, you’re urged to see a doctor.

The CDC also has tips to quit vaping for anyone who is interested.

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