Happy New Year from VapeHQ and QLabs

A New year brings a new you, and if you're looking at dropping the habit of smoking, but you've been watching your social media meme's over Christmas and seen what looks like news reports of some horrible things. I know I saw them and it sickens me to see such horrible levels of misinformation being put out at a time when people might be looking to better themselves. So here's a few I saw, and why they are wrong.

"Vaping causes sight loss"

Categorically wrong. The one I saw claims that chemicals cause pressure behind the eyes and this destroys your sight. The truth is, unless you pour the e-liquid in your eyes or buy a very dodgy bottle from Jim behind Netto, vaping will not make you go blind. The Carcinogenic chemicals in smoking cause damage to your eyes, but vaping has not been found to hurt your eyesight.

"Vaping causes heart attack"

I'm not going to say categorically wrong, but this is still wrong. Vaping does not cause heart attack, however if you suffer from heart disease, taking nicotine in any form can cause palpitations and subsequently, a heart attack. We do not recommend taking nicotine if you have a heart condition and you should seek advice from your doctor first on how best to quit nicotine. Are there other conditions that cause vaping to be harmful like this? Sure, in the same way smoking can trigger an asthma attack, vaping can also be trigger reactions, but it doesn't cause the heart attack, or the asthma itself. 

"Vaping causes lung illnesses"

I'm grouping a whole bunch together here because I keep seeing random illness being attributed vaping that just aren't true, from pneumonia which is usually cause by either trauma, viruses or bacteria, to holes in your lungs and collapsed lungs.
First, there has not been a case of collapsed lungs caused by vaping legitimately reported in the media. The only case reported in the media was reported on 2 years earlier with doctors confirming the truth behind the incident, the truth being that young people can get excited enough to collapse a lung. Which is useful information for parents who suddenly find their child hardly able to breath at Christmas. Holes in lungs? Cause by a very specific illicit product in America, not a British thing. Pneumonia? It just isn't caused by vapes. None of these issues have been shown to be caused by products from legitimate vendors.

There is limited evidence that EXCESSIVE vaping could potentially result in COPD. However, Smoking can also result in COPD and is proven to cause it, even after you quit smoking, while being less likely to develop it, you are still at higher risk and like all the current evidence with the vast majority of vapers being ex-smokers, you have to look at data more closely.

"Vaping causes heart disease."

Returning to the heart, we have this one. Something that hit the media just before december but it's an important one to note. Why? Because the data doesn't match the claim. The data says that smokers have a very high chance of heart disease. Those that never smoked have a very low chance of it. Those who quit smoking have a reduced chance compared to smokers, and those who have quit smoking through vaping have a very similar chance to those who quit. Meaning that the truth of the claim is "quitting smoking by vaping reduces the chance of heart disease!" 
Is there data that shows whether never smokers who vape have a higher chance of heart disease? No. unfortunately not. We know that some users will start vaping regardless of their previous habits, and we hope that the data is good in this regard, but it's also why we say "if you don't smoke, don't start vaping."

And last, vaping makes you cool.

Come on... Don't be a silly goose. Vaping isn't cool, it's a habit. That's like saying "biting your nails makes you cool" or "Picking you nose makes you cool". Does it? No. Don't vape in the hope you'll suddenly be cool. Learn to ride a skateboard or learn how to play the guitar or something if you want to look cool.