He is 18 years old and smokes an electronic cigarette every day. He now has the lungs of a 70-year-old.

More and more studies are questioning the use of electronic cigarettes. Far from being a healthy alternative to the traditional smoking pattern, the use of these devices is related to various respiratory complications, and it has been proven that its aerosols contain toxic and carcinogenic compounds.

In recent hours, a sad case has emerged in the United States and seems to be the irrefutable proof of the damage that the practice of vaping can cause to health. It is one of a kind 18 years old that while consuming an electronic cigarette, It has ended with the lungs of a 70 year old person.

The teenager, Adam Hergenreder, is from Gurnee, Illinois, and began the day of vaping between the age of 16 years. After two years of consumption nicotine and THC -the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis, began to experience a permanent nauseated condition that, first, was attributed to the symptoms of a virus. However, the picture persisted and the young man decided to ask for medical help.

After several requests, an X-ray revealed the huge damage to his lungs, which, according to the doctors, had the appearance of a 52-year-old man.

According to CNN, Hergenreder is one of 450 Americans recently contracted strange respiratory disease related to the consumption of electronic cigarette. In addition, six product-related deaths They have been reported in the states of California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, and Oregon.

Faced with this scenario, and in an attempt to discourage consumption – which grew by 900% between 2011 and 2015 – Donald Trump proposed Wednesday national ban on flavored electronic cigarettes.

According to CNN, the use of this product has seen an exponential increase in adolescents in recent years. In fact, Hergenreder began its consumption in this way and then incorporated THC.

"The symptoms started after two years of consumption, I started to feel tremor, then the nausea came and soon I must vomit without stopping for three days in a row. That's when I consulted the doctors, who discovered the cause of the problem, "said the teenager.

As for when he was told that his lungs looked like a 70-year-old man, he said, "It's scary to think about what this camera did to me. If I had known what was causing my body, I would never have touched it. I did not know. I used it to go with my clbadmates".

Hergenreder was admitted to the Advocate Condel Medical Center in Libertyville, where they connected it to an oxygen tube and treated with antibiotics and steroids. According to the doctors of the institution, he was about to die.

"If his mother had taken him to the hospital two or three days later, his problem would have worsened to the point that he would probably have would be dead"said Stephen Amesbury, the pulmonologist who treated him.

Despite being released, the doctors have warned him it will take months for your lungs to fully recover.