Collapsed lung/pneumothorax in teenage boy?

[qwertywithak]

Took my son to A&E last week after he'd been complaining of shortness of breath and chest pain for a few days. His saturation levels were also a bit low so GP was concerned and suggested I take him to A&E. He had an x-ray at the time which was given the all clear but I got a call today to say they had reviewed the x-ray and found a small pneumothorax (collapsed lung). He has asthma so I am assuming it is related to this plus he does some sport as leisure.

Doctor said they don't need to do any treatment as small ones normally are reabsorbed by the body in a few weeks and they will call him in for an x-ray to check it has resolved. We are due to travel by plane in August and I am hoping this won't prevent him from flying.

Has anyone had a collapsed lung? If so, how was it treated, how long did it take to heal and have you flown successfully since?

It's not uncommon in young fit males, particularly.
With the flying, though, I would absolutely push for repeat CXR with time to report well before, it's usually about 6 weeks post initial one.
Good luck

Just to add, check health insurance, this is a new, acute event and may need mentioning. X

DS had one at 15. He was really ill with it at the time but we weren't even told about it by the hospital, so there was no treatment as such (that's a whole other thread). He has asthma too.

Treatment was just what he was already having for asthma and the chest infection which caused it. (Are you sure your DS doesn't have an underlying infection?) When DS was x-rayed 4 months later it was gone. He's flown twice since and there hasn't been a problem, although he still has on-going lung problems. He is very active though when he's feeling well enough.

FWIW I think this had happened to him before, but that was in Feb/March 2020 so it wasn't picked up.

Does he vape. It could be connected to that. You’ll probs have to tell your holiday insurance. Hope you can still go away.

Common in fit skinny young men. The reason isn't understood but it is a well known problem.

If your ds didn’t also have asthma, this would be a primary spontaneous pneumothorax, which is most common in young (late teens to late twenties), tall, skinny males. Most airlines let you fly from a couple of weeks post an xray confirming the pneumothorax is fully resolved, to allow time for healing. As your ds also has asthma, it’s a secondary pneumothorax, I think, as it’s associated with lung disease, so best to seek advice from his doctor, but would probably be similar or the same advice, as it’s only a small pneumothorax and he hasn’t had one before. You must ensure you inform your travel insurance company also. The changes in air pressure when flying make flying with a pneumothorax very risky - you wouldn’t want a small pneumothorax becoming a large, life threatening one mid-air, hence the requirement to have the all clear and a couple of weeks after to ensure full healing.

They obviously don’t think your ds is likely to need any treatment, but if he does it might involve inserting a hollow needle between his ribs to release the air trapped between his lungs and chest wall, so that the lung can re-expand; or having a chest drain put in and a stay in hospital until the lung has fully reinflated. It’s an unpleasant experience to have a chest drain inserted, but a standard procedure. Occasionally, an operation is required to resolve the pneumothorax, if the lung is not repairing itself or if someone has had more than one pneumothorax, but that sounds exceedingly unlikely in your ds’s case. After surgery, at least six weeks would be required before flying. Chances are, as they say, his body will reabsorb the air that’s ended up in the wrong place and he’ll be absolutely fine by August.

Ps the medical advice is also never to scuba dive if you have had a pneumothorax, unless you have had an operation to ensure you will never have another one.

Thanks @Walkaround. That's really useful advice. I had no idea. I'll pass it on to my DS.