Rising Women Use Vape, Lecturer at UM Surabaya; Beware of Infertility to Kidney Failure

• 21 May
• 2022

Ilustrasi gambar (Shutterstock)

Rising Women Use Vape, Lecturer at UM Surabaya; Beware of Infertility to Kidney Failure

• Article
• By Uswah Sahal
• Health
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The trend of vaping or the use of electric cigarettes has recently been on the rise again. It's not only men who use it, but over time, the vaping trend turns out to be widely used among women, including women who wear hijab.

The large number of women who use vaping caught the attention of Vella Rohmayani, a Lecturer in the Medical Laboratory Technology Study Program (TLM) of the UM Surabaya Applied Bachelor Program to provide a response.

According to Vella, at the beginning of its emergence, vape was indeed promoted as a cigarette product that was friendlier to health. This is what makes many users of conventional tobacco cigarettes then switch to using e-cigarettes or vapes, because they are considered healthier.

The emergence of this vaping trend has led to an increase in the number of smokers in Indonesia. According to the Indonesian Personal Vaprizer Association (APVI) vape users in 2020 have reached 2.2 million people.

Vella, who is also a member of the Muhammadiyah Tobacco Control Center MTCC UM Surabaya, explained that vape has several components, namely propylene, glycol, flavours, water and nicotine. WHO states that vape contains several substances that have the potential to be toxic and carcinogenic. In fact, the content of liquid or liquid flavors in vape can be misused to include higher doses of nicotine or to include other ingredients such as heroin and canibusoil which can have a negative impact on the user's health.

In a written statement, Vella explained six health hazards that can occur if someone consumes vape, one of which is causing fertility problems.

Vape use can cause a person to experience fertility problems, both men and women. Vaping men can experience problems with decreasing the number and quality of sperm they produce. Meanwhile, women who consume vape can experience the risk of damage to their egg cells and increase the risk of miscarriage.

In addition, the use of vape also causes problems in the fallopian tubes, this channel is where the egg and sperm cells meet or where the fertilization process occurs. So, if there is a problem in the channel it can cause a person to experience a decreased chance of pregnancy, and can increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy or pregnancy outside the womb.

“Next is causing addiction and poisoning, just like tobacco cigarettes, vape also contains nicotine. Nicotine is a substance that can stimulate the brain to release the hormone dopamine in relatively high amounts," explained Vella, Saturday (21/5/22)

This is what can then lead to the effects of addiction or dependence. Besides being able to cause addiction, Nicotine can also trigger poisoning in the body. And can cause damage to various vital organs.

The third causes kidney failure, one of the substances contained in vape is propylene glycol. This substance is actually not dangerous if consumed within reasonable limits. However, e-cigarette users can use vape materials or compositions at will. If the substance is consumed beyond reasonable limits, it can cause kidney failure.

"Another effect is to increase the risk of lung disease, the nicotine content contained in vape can cause an increased risk of inflammation in the lungs. In addition, the flavoring content contained in vape can also cause damage to the epithelium in the lungs," explained Vella again.

He further explained that vape use triggers cancer. Electric cigarettes or vapes also have nicotine components in them like conventional tobacco cigarettes. Nicotine is a group of compounds that can trigger cancer or are carcinogenic.

Vape use also causes heart disease. The nicotine vapor produced from vape can cause an increase in adrenaline levels in the body.

“This adrenaline hormone will usually increase when someone is experiencing stress or depression. The production of this hormone in high amounts can improve heart performance. So there is a risk of causing a heart attack, because the heart has to work harder to pump blood throughout the body,” he explained.

According to Vella, switching to vape is not the right alternative to quit smoking. Because in reality vape can cause various kinds of health problems in the body just like the use of conventional tobacco cigarettes.

“Let's start a healthy life by stopping consuming processed tobacco products. Because both conventional tobacco cigarettes and electric cigarettes (vape) are both harmful to health," he said.