We Rounded Up Our Favorite Medical TikToks From 2021 — Including The Woman Whose Vape Gave Her Chlamydia of the Lungs

“Eventually they found out she had chlamydia in her lungs from a bad vape cartridge.”

It’s the final week of the year and we’re gonna be going through the wildest moments of 2021! Today is our look back at the best (and weirdest) of Medical Tiktok.

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In this episode, we've got a woman who got chlamydia in her lungs from vaping, someone who used a magic eraser on their teeth, and a woman who had a wedgie so bad she went into septic shock. Enjoy!

First up, the woman who got chlamydia from her vape...

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Krista Torres: A girl actually went viral on TikTok for sharing her story about how she kept having all these symptoms going on, and they couldn't figure out what was going on and eventually they found out she had chlamydia in her lungs from a bad vape cartridge in the pen. And I want to be clear that it's not the same chlamydia as the STD. But there's a whole long list of different strains, I guess, of chlamydia that you can have.

BuzzFeed Daily: What was your reaction when you found that one?

KT: Terrified, I guess? People are like, "Well, you know, if you're going to smoke, do a vape because it's healthier" and then you see people on the other side and they're like, "Actually, no, smoking an actual plant is better than the juice or whatever is in those vape pens." So it was just super interesting to me. 

I actually reached out to a doctor to get some more information. I talked to Dr. Luis Chug, and he is quadruple board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary critical care, and sleep medicine. So he knows his stuff. But basically, he talked about how lung chlamydia can happen and the risks and signs to look out for. Basically, you just need to be careful with the cartridges that you're buying, because if you're buying them from a second-hand shop, you don't really know where they're coming from. Those cartridges could contain bacteria, and when you inhale them in, it goes into your lungs and therefore giving you an infection. It's in the family of pneumonia, actually. So it's like chlamydia pneumoniae.

Then there was the woman who decided to whiten her teeth with a Magic Eraser...

BuzzFeed Daily: OK, so viral whitening teeth trends are nothing new on TikTok, but a woman who uses a Magic Eraser to whiten her teeth gave us all a moment of pause. Talk to us about how this woman's weird dental hygiene sparked a viral commotion.

NBC / Via giphy.com

KT: I think, first of all, it stops everybody in their tracks just hearing the sound of her rub a Magic Eraser on her teeth — it's like fingernails on a chalkboard. So that first of all. Second of all, we use Magic Eraser to clean crayons off the wall and other things like that. You don't put it in your mouth. This woman went on fully like, "Don't come after me, I'm going to do this. I'll just say right away." Like, basically that this is what works for her and kind of telling other people they should try it. But also at the same time saying that, you know, "Dentists are going to come after me because it's bad." So it's very hypocritical to begin with. But it was so alarming because she said she's been doing it for years. She doesn't use fluoride on her teeth. It's just one thing after another that we have all been taught to do, like not put chemicals in your mouth and to use fluoride, I think is why people are like, "Wait, what? But your teeth are so white." So that's why people were intrigued. 

BuzzFeed Daily: You went straight to the professionals to clarify why it isn't a good idea. What's the expert advice on why you shouldn't do this, outside the obvious?

KT: One of the big things that Dr. Zainab Mackie, who I spoke with, said, is that rubbing this on your teeth is actually going to break down the enamel of your teeth, and we're born with only so much enamel. So once you rub it away and you're stripping it down, you're never going to get it back. And then she also said that basically this outer layer of our tooth, which is the enamel, is actually whiter than what's underneath it. Like once you get down further to the structure of the tooth, it's more yellow. So really doing this, especially for a prolonged period of time — such as years, like she's been doing — is just going to have the opposite effect because her teeth are just going to be more yellow and then wearing down your enamel makes it more sensitive all around. It's just a bad idea. 

Our next TikTok is about the destructive power of underwear.

BuzzFeed Daily: OK, so a woman named Sam in North Carolina was going on a date and decided to wear some high-waisted shorts. Definitely a great choice for a date, but not a great choice for her ass. Apparently, the next day she felt a sore where the wedgie was chafing her and by the following morning, she was being rushed to the ER in full-on septic shock. You actually interviewed Sam for your piece on BuzzFeed. So what happened? I mean, how did a wedgie land her in the ER?

Fox / Via reddit.com

Shelby Heinrich: So the way Sam told it to me is she went on a daytime date with this guy that she was newly seeing, and the date actually ended up going pretty well, and they hung out for about eight hours (which is an amazing date). Like a side note? That's crazy. I think we've all had dates where after an hour it's like, "Okay, when can I get out of here?"

But anyway, so they're having an amazing day, and the entire time she's wearing these shorts that clearly weren't super comfortable. They were riding up a bit. Once again, we've all been there. I remember wearing those shorts as well. But she pushed through because she was having a great time. And then the next day, she felt sick, and she noticed that there was kind of a bump where the chafing had occurred due to her shorts. And the day after that still wasn't feeling great. She got some antibiotics to help treat it. But by then, it was already too late. The day after that, she was rushed to the ER in septic shock. She spent four days in the ICU, another three days in the ER. Luckily, she was able to avoid surgery and go home and rest to fully recover. But yeah, pretty intense stuff, all in the name of fashion.

We also wanted to throw a couple of new TikToks in the mix because they’re like a neverending car crash that you can’t look away from. These are both courtesy of Krista Torres, who is our Medical TikTok MVP for the year.

@AppleTV / GIPHY / Via giphy.com

Up first is a doctor who has gone viral for explaining why people usually think the left side of their face is more attractive than the right side.

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TikTok user @LifeOfADoctor is an emergency physician who has created a huge social media following with his medical explainers.

Recently he posted a video that has been viewed over 11 million times explaining the “Left-Side Bias Phenomenon.” 

Warning to our listeners, our next story is…absolutely disgusting. So apparently there’s a big conversation happening on TikTok between women about how it’s anatomically impossible, or at the very least difficult, to wipe from front to back.

Instagram: @theladypartspt

We should say, there are multiple videos about this topic. Multiple. 

As always, thanks for listening!