How a Chest Tube Treats a Collapsed Lung: What Happens During Pneumothorax Drainage

It usually starts as an odd, sharp catch on one side of the chest, the kind you might blame on a pulled muscle or a bad night’s sleep. Then the breathlessness arrives, climbing a single flight of stairs feels like three, and somewhere in an emergency department a clinician holds up an X-ray and says a word most people have only heard on television: pneumothorax.

What follows is often the sentence that matters most: “We’d like to put in a chest tube.” For many patients it is the first time they have ever been asked to consent to a procedure while lying flat, short of breath, and slightly frightened. The questions come fast. Will it hurt? How long will it stay in? Is a collapsed lung something people die from?

This explainer walks through what a chest tube for collapsed lung actually does, step by step, who tends to need one and who is often asked to wait, and what the days afterward usually look like, with the evidence rather than the folklore.

Do you need a chest tube for a collapsed lung?

Not always, and that surprises people. A pneumothorax is air that has leaked into the pleural space, the thin gap between the lung and the inside of the chest wall. The two surfaces there are normally held together by a film of fluid, a little like two wet panes of glass. When air gets in, the lung pulls away from the chest wall and partly deflates.

How much it deflates, and how the person is coping, drives the decision. Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus both describe a spectrum of approaches: watchful waiting with repeat imaging for a small pneumothorax in someone who is comfortable; needle aspiration, where a clinician draws the air out with a syringe through a fine needle; and a chest tube for larger collapses, for people who are struggling to breathe, or when the leak keeps coming. Supplemental oxygen is often given because it can speed the body’s own reabsorption of the trapped air.

A small pneumothorax in an otherwise healthy person can reabsorb on its own over days to a few weeks, according to Mayo Clinic, which is why some patients are sent home with a follow-up X-ray rather than a drain. The calculus changes quickly when the lung has collapsed substantially, when the person has underlying lung disease and little reserve, when the pneumothorax followed trauma, or when pressure is building and pushing on the heart, a situation called tension pneumothorax that is treated as an emergency.

So the honest answer is that a chest tube for collapsed lung is one tool among several. Your team weighs the size of the collapse, your breathing, your oxygen levels, and the likely cause before recommending it, and that recommendation belongs to them, made in front of your X-ray rather than a general article.

What actually happens during pneumothorax drainage, step by step

The procedure is formally called a tube thoracostomy, which simply means making an opening into the chest to place a tube. It is done at the bedside far more often than in an operating room, and it is usually over in well under an hour.

You will be positioned lying back with the affected arm raised behind your head, which opens up the gap between the ribs. The clinician chooses a spot on the side of the chest, roughly level with the nipple line and toward the armpit, in an area sometimes called the safe triangle because it avoids major blood vessels and muscle. The skin is cleaned with antiseptic and covered with sterile drapes.

Local anesthetic is injected into the skin and the deeper layers down to the rib, and many centers add a sedative or a short-acting pain medicine through an IV to keep you comfortable. Ultrasound is frequently used to confirm the position before anything sharp goes in.

Then a small incision is made. For a small-bore drain, a fine needle is passed into the pleural space, a guidewire threaded through it, and the soft tube slid over the wire, a technique borrowed from placing IV lines. For a larger surgical tube, the clinician uses a blunt instrument and a gloved finger to open a track between the ribs before feeding the tube in. Both approaches are described by MedlinePlus and Johns Hopkins as standard.

Once the tube is inside, it is stitched to the skin, sealed with a dressing, and connected to a drainage system. A chest X-ray confirms the tip is sitting where it should. Most people describe a moment of pressure and then, often within minutes, a noticeable easing of the breathlessness as the lung begins to re-expand.

How a chest tube for collapsed lung works: the one-way street for air

The clever part is not the tube; it is what the tube is attached to. Air needs to leave the pleural space and never come back, and the drainage system is essentially a one-way valve engineered around that single requirement.

The classic design is a water seal. The end of the tubing sits below the surface of a small column of sterile water inside a sealed chamber. When you breathe out, pressure in the chest rises, air from the pleural space is pushed down the tube and bubbles out through the water. When you breathe in, pressure drops, but air cannot travel backward because the water blocks the tube’s opening. Nurses watch that chamber closely: bubbling on exhalation means air is still leaking from the lung, and the day the bubbling stops is a milestone.

Some systems replace the water column with a mechanical one-way flutter valve, a flattened rubber sleeve that opens as air pushes out and collapses shut on the way in. These are lighter and can allow more mobility, and Cleveland Clinic notes they are sometimes used with small-bore drains.

Suction is the optional extra. Connecting the drainage system to gentle wall suction creates a mild negative pressure that can encourage a reluctant lung to re-expand. Guidelines do not treat suction as routine for a simple pneumothorax, and teams generally reserve it for a lung that is slow to come up or a leak that persists.

The whole arrangement depends on the drainage unit staying below the level of your chest, which is why you will be reminded not to lift it above your waist and why tubing is checked for kinks and loops. Physics, not medicine, does most of the work here, and understanding that makes the ward routine feel a great deal less mysterious.

Who usually gets a chest tube, and who is usually asked to wait

Clinicians sort pneumothorax into a few broad groups, and the group you fall into shapes whether a drain is offered straight away.

A primary spontaneous pneumothorax appears with no obvious cause in someone with otherwise healthy lungs. Mayo Clinic describes it as most common in tall, thin young adults, more often men, and more common in smokers; the leak usually comes from a tiny blister-like weak spot on the lung surface called a bleb. If the collapse is small and the person is comfortable, observation or needle aspiration is frequently tried first, and a chest tube is held in reserve.

A secondary spontaneous pneumothorax happens in a lung already weakened by disease, most often chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but also cystic fibrosis, asthma, some infections, and certain connective-tissue conditions. These patients have less breathing reserve, so even a modest collapse can be dangerous, and drainage with hospital admission is more routinely recommended, as MedlinePlus notes.

Traumatic pneumothorax follows an injury, a rib fracture, a stab wound, a fall, or a medical procedure such as a lung biopsy or central line placement. The decision here depends on the size of the air pocket and whether blood has collected alongside it, in which case a larger tube is often chosen so the blood can drain too.

Tension pneumothorax, where air keeps entering the pleural space but cannot leave, is the one scenario where nobody waits. Pressure builds, the heart and great vessels are squeezed, and blood pressure falls. Emergency needle decompression followed by a chest tube is the standard response.

People on mechanical ventilation, people about to fly, and people with a pneumothorax on both sides are also more likely to be drained promptly. The pattern is simple: the less reserve you have and the higher the stakes if the collapse grows, the sooner a tube goes in.

Pneumothorax treatment options compared: watch, aspirate, or drain

Seeing the choices side by side helps make sense of why two people with “a collapsed lung” can leave the emergency department with completely different plans. The table summarizes how the main approaches described by Mayo Clinic, MedlinePlus, and the NIH StatPearls review are typically used; none of it replaces the judgment of the team looking at your imaging.

Approach	What it involves	Typically considered when	Trade-offs
Observation with oxygen	Rest, supplemental oxygen, repeat X-ray in hours to days	Small primary pneumothorax, minimal symptoms, reliable follow-up	No procedure, but the collapse may enlarge and require later drainage
Needle aspiration	Fine needle and syringe remove air in one sitting	Moderate primary pneumothorax in an otherwise well person	Quick and less invasive; may need repeating or converting to a tube if the lung does not stay up
Small-bore chest tube	Soft, straw-width drain placed over a guidewire, often with a flutter valve	Larger primary pneumothorax, many secondary cases, persistent leak after aspiration	Generally more comfortable than large tubes; can kink or block more easily
Large-bore chest tube	Wider surgical drain placed through a blunt-dissected track	Trauma with blood in the chest, ventilated patients, some tension cases	Handles blood and large leaks well; more discomfort and a bigger scar
Surgery (VATS or open)	Keyhole or open operation to seal the leak and stick the lung to the chest wall	Persistent air leak, recurrent pneumothorax, high-risk occupations	Lowest recurrence but requires general anesthesia and a longer recovery

One theme runs through the table: teams increasingly start with the least invasive option that is likely to work and escalate only if the lung does not cooperate. Smaller drains have become common for spontaneous pneumothorax because the air leak is usually modest and comfort matters for the several days the tube stays in. Larger tubes still earn their place when blood or a very large leak is involved.

How painful is a chest tube for pneumothorax?

This is the question people are most reluctant to ask out loud, so it deserves a direct answer: the insertion itself is usually brief and well controlled with local anesthetic, and the ache afterward is real but manageable. Patients often describe the placement as intense pressure rather than sharp pain, followed by relief as breathing eases.

The pleura, the lining that the tube passes through, is richly supplied with nerves, which is why the moment the tube enters the chest can sting even with numbing medicine in the skin. Clinicians counter this by injecting anesthetic all the way down to the rib and its lining, and by adding IV sedation or a short-acting pain medicine when appropriate. Johns Hopkins describes the procedure as done under local anesthesia with sedation available for comfort.

Once the tube is in, the discomfort changes character. Most people report a dull ache at the site, soreness when they twist or cough, and an odd tugging sensation when the tube moves. Coughing and deep breathing hurt, which is unfortunate because both are exactly what the team will ask you to do to help the lung re-expand and to prevent pneumonia. Regular pain relief timed before physiotherapy sessions makes those exercises far more tolerable, and your nurses will ask you to rate your pain often so the plan can be adjusted.

Removal, which many dread more than insertion, is typically quick. You will be coached to take a deep breath and hold it, or to hum, while the tube is slid out in one smooth motion and the site sealed. Most people describe a strange pulling feeling lasting a second or two.

Pain that suddenly worsens, spreads, or comes with new breathlessness is different from the expected ache and should be reported straight away; it can signal a blocked tube, a new leak, or bleeding.

How long does a chest tube stay in for a collapsed lung?

The typical answer is a few days, though the range is wide and depends on the lung rather than the calendar. Mayo Clinic notes that a chest tube may be in place for several hours to several days, and Cleveland Clinic gives a similar range for spontaneous pneumothorax, with longer stays when the underlying lung is diseased or the leak is stubborn.

Two things have to happen before the tube can come out. First, the lung must be fully re-expanded on a chest X-ray, sitting snugly against the chest wall with no residual pocket of air. Second, the air leak must have stopped, which the team judges by watching the water-seal chamber: no bubbling when you cough or breathe out, usually confirmed over a period of hours.

Many units add a third step. The tube is clamped for a few hours or disconnected from suction and left on water seal alone, then a repeat X-ray checks that the lung stays up without help. If it does, the tube is removed. If a new air pocket appears, the drain stays and the plan is revisited.

Factors that tend to stretch the timeline include chronic lung disease such as COPD, where the fragile tissue heals slowly; a very large initial collapse; being on a ventilator; and any blockage or kink in the tubing that has interrupted drainage. Younger patients with a primary spontaneous pneumothorax often move through the whole sequence in two to four days, while a persistent leak in emphysematous lungs can run to a week or more, at which point surgical options come onto the table, as the NIH StatPearls review describes.

Your team will not give you a fixed exit date, and that is not evasiveness. The tube leaves when the lung has proven it can stay inflated on its own.

Collapsed lung recovery time: what the following days usually look like

Life with a chest tube settles into a rhythm faster than most people expect. The drainage unit becomes a companion that travels with you to the bathroom and back, always kept below chest height, its tubing checked for kinks each time you move.

Mornings usually bring a chest X-ray, sometimes daily, to track re-expansion. Nurses inspect the dressing for leakage and the water-seal chamber for bubbling, and they will ask you to cough while they watch it. The result of that small test shapes the day’s plan.

Breathing exercises are the unglamorous core of recovery. Slow deep breaths, holding air in for a few seconds, and controlled coughing help open up the lung and clear secretions. A physiotherapist may leave you an incentive spirometer, a simple plastic device that shows how deep a breath you are taking, and ask you to use it every waking hour. It hurts a little; it also works, which is why it is prescribed.

Walking is encouraged from the first day when it is safe. Mobility reduces the risk of blood clots in the legs, keeps the lung expanding, and, frankly, improves morale. Sitting upright in a chair rather than lying flat helps too.

Once the tube is out, the site is covered with an airtight dressing that stays on for a few days, and a final X-ray is taken before discharge. Expect the incision to feel bruised for a week or two and the chest wall to ache with deep breaths for a while longer. Mayo Clinic advises avoiding strenuous activity and heavy lifting until your team clears you, and both Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus advise against air travel and scuba diving until follow-up imaging confirms complete resolution and your clinician says it is safe. Full recovery from a straightforward spontaneous pneumothorax is typically measured in weeks rather than months.

When the lung won't stay up: persistent air leak and surgery

Sometimes the water seal keeps bubbling day after day. A leak that continues beyond several days is called a persistent air leak, and it changes the conversation from waiting to intervening.

The first steps are conservative. The team checks the tube is not kinked, blocked, or partly pulled out, confirms the tip is well positioned, and may apply or increase gentle suction. In some cases a second drain is placed. If the lung is up but a small leak lingers, some patients are managed with a portable flutter-valve system, occasionally even at home with close follow-up, an approach Cleveland Clinic describes for selected cases.

If the leak still will not close, a thoracic surgeon is usually consulted. The most common operation is video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, VATS, a keyhole procedure done under general anesthesia through two or three small incisions. The surgeon identifies and staples off the leaking blebs, then performs pleurodesis, a deliberate roughening or chemical irritation of the pleural lining so that the lung heals stuck to the chest wall and cannot collapse again in that spot. Mayo Clinic notes that surgery is also considered for people who have had more than one pneumothorax, those with a collapse on both sides, and people whose jobs or hobbies, such as pilots or divers, make another episode especially hazardous.

For patients too frail for an operation, chemical pleurodesis through the existing chest tube is an alternative. A sterile irritant is instilled through the drain to provoke the same adhesive scarring without an incision. It is uncomfortable for a day or so and is done under the team’s supervision with pain relief planned in advance.

Surgery brings the lowest recurrence rate of any option, according to the NIH StatPearls review, but it is a bigger undertaking, and whether it is right for you is a judgment your surgeon and pulmonologist make together with you.

Chest tube removal recovery: what to expect at home

The tube comes out in a matter of seconds, but the site needs a little care for the next week or so. You will go home with an occlusive dressing, a sealed patch designed to keep air from being sucked back in through the small wound, and instructions to leave it undisturbed for a few days. Some centers place a stitch that needs removal at a follow-up visit; others use a purse-string suture tied at removal; others close the site with adhesive strips alone.

Keep the area clean and dry until your team says otherwise. Showering is often permitted after a couple of days with the dressing protected; soaking in a bath or swimming usually waits until the wound has fully sealed. A small amount of clear or slightly pink fluid on the dressing in the first day is common. Redness spreading outward, increasing warmth, pus, or a fever are not, and warrant a call.

Chest wall soreness is expected. Deep breaths, coughing, sneezing, and rolling over in bed will remind you of the tube for one to two weeks. Over-the-counter pain relief, as advised by your team, is usually enough, and continuing the breathing exercises from the hospital helps the lung stay fully expanded.

MedlinePlus lists the standard restrictions: no strenuous exercise, heavy lifting, or contact sports until your follow-up X-ray and your clinician clear you; no air travel until a repeat X-ray confirms the pneumothorax has completely resolved and your doctor agrees it is safe; and no scuba diving, which most guidelines discourage permanently after a spontaneous pneumothorax unless definitive surgery has been done. If you smoke, this is the single most effective moment to stop. Smoking raises the risk of both a first and a repeat pneumothorax, and Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic both identify quitting as the main modifiable step toward preventing recurrence.

What are the chances of surviving a collapsed lung?

For most people, very good, and it helps to separate the dramatic image the phrase conjures from the clinical reality. A primary spontaneous pneumothorax in an otherwise healthy person is rarely life-threatening. Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus describe it as a condition that often resolves fully, whether on its own, with aspiration, or with a chest tube, and most patients return to normal activity within weeks.

The risk rises in specific situations. A secondary pneumothorax in someone with advanced COPD or another serious lung disease is more dangerous, because a lung that was already struggling has little margin to lose, and these patients are more likely to need longer drainage and hospital admission. Tension pneumothorax, where trapped air compresses the heart and great vessels, is a genuine emergency that can be fatal if not decompressed quickly, which is why emergency teams treat suspected cases before waiting for imaging. Traumatic pneumothorax carries whatever risk accompanies the injury that caused it.

Recurrence, rather than survival, is the number that matters more for young, healthy patients. Cleveland Clinic and the NIH StatPearls review both note that a meaningful proportion of people who have one spontaneous pneumothorax will have another, most often within the first couple of years and most often on the same side, with smokers at higher risk. Reported figures vary between studies, which is why your clinician may frame it as “a substantial chance” rather than a precise percentage, and why surgery is discussed after a second episode.

Complications of the chest tube itself are uncommon but real: infection at the site, bleeding, injury to the lung or nearby organs during placement, a tube that slips or blocks, and, rarely, re-expansion pulmonary edema, where fluid leaks into a lung that has been re-inflated very quickly. Ultrasound guidance and careful technique are used specifically to keep these risks low. Asking your team how they monitor for each is a reasonable question, not an anxious one.

What people often get wrong about chest tubes

“The tube goes into the lung.” It does not. The drain sits in the pleural space, the gap between the lung and the chest wall. The lung is the thing being protected, and the tube stays outside it, which is why re-expansion happens around the tube rather than through it.

“A collapsed lung means the whole lung has failed.” Most pneumothoraces are partial. The lung shrinks away from the chest wall by a few centimeters, but much of it keeps working. That is why some people are surprisingly comfortable at diagnosis and why small collapses can be watched rather than drained.

“Bubbling in the chamber means something is wrong.” Early on, bubbling on breathing out is expected; it is air leaving the chest, which is the entire purpose of the tube. Continuous vigorous bubbling that does not change with breathing may point to a loose connection, and staff check for it, but the bubbles themselves are not an alarm.

“Bigger tubes work better.” For a simple air leak, evidence summarized in the NIH StatPearls review does not show that large-bore tubes re-expand the lung more reliably than small-bore ones, and smaller drains are generally more comfortable. Large tubes are chosen when blood or pus needs to drain too.

“Once the tube is out, I’m done.” The follow-up X-ray is part of the treatment, not an optional extra. A small air pocket can reappear after removal, and flying or diving before imaging confirms full resolution is where preventable harm happens.

“It only happens to smokers.” Smoking raises the risk substantially, but tall, thin nonsmokers, people with underlying lung disease, and anyone who has had chest trauma or certain medical procedures can develop one. Blaming yourself is neither accurate nor useful; changing what you can, starting with tobacco, is.

Questions to ask your care team

The hours around a chest tube decision move quickly, and it is easy to nod along and think of the real questions later. Writing a few down, or asking a family member to, helps. These are the ones patients most often wish they had asked.

• How large is the collapse, and what type of pneumothorax do you think this is: primary, secondary, or traumatic?
• Is observation or needle aspiration a reasonable option for me first, or is a chest tube the clear recommendation, and why?
• Which size of tube are you planning, and will you use ultrasound to guide placement?
• What will you do for my comfort during insertion, and what is the plan for pain relief afterward, especially around breathing exercises?
• Will the drain be on suction or a water seal, and how will I know the air leak has stopped?
• What has to be true on the X-ray and in the drainage chamber before the tube can come out?
• If the leak continues, at what point would you involve a thoracic surgeon, and what would the options be?
• What is my personal risk of this happening again, and does that change if I stop smoking?
• When can I return to work, exercise, and lifting, and when is it safe to fly?
• Who do I call, day or night, if something changes after I go home, and when is my follow-up X-ray?

Notice that none of these ask the team to guarantee an outcome. Good clinicians will tell you what they expect and what would change their mind, and that conditional honesty is worth more than reassurance. If an answer is unclear, ask for it to be repeated in plainer words; the pleural space is not intuitive, and nobody expects you to have studied it.

When to call your doctor

Recovery from a pneumothorax is usually steady, so a sudden change is the signal to act. Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, and MedlinePlus agree on the warning signs, and they apply both while the tube is in and in the weeks after it is removed.

Call emergency services or go to the nearest emergency department immediately if you develop sudden sharp chest pain with new or worsening shortness of breath, especially on the same side as before; a rapid heartbeat with dizziness, faintness, or a bluish tinge to the lips or fingertips; or any sensation that air is escaping around the tube site or that the chest is tightening. These can indicate the lung has collapsed again or that a tension pneumothorax is developing, and both are time-critical.

Contact your care team the same day if the drain site shows spreading redness, increasing warmth, swelling, or pus; if you run a fever; if the dressing becomes soaked with blood or the wound gapes; if, while the tube is still in, it appears to have moved, the tubing has disconnected, or the drainage chamber has stopped changing entirely; or if your pain is escalating despite the relief you were prescribed.

A persistent cough that brings up blood, a crackling feeling under the skin near the incision, or breathlessness that is gradually creeping back over a few days rather than arriving suddenly also deserve a prompt call rather than a wait-and-see approach.

Keep your follow-up appointment even if you feel entirely well. The repeat X-ray is how your team confirms the lung has stayed up, and it is the basis for clearing you to fly, exercise, or return to physical work. Any decision about those activities, about surgery to prevent recurrence, or about changes to medicines you already take rests with the clinicians who know your case.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a chest tube for a collapsed lung?

Not every collapsed lung needs a chest tube. Small pneumothoraces in otherwise healthy people are often monitored with oxygen and repeat X-rays, or drained once with a needle and syringe. A chest tube is usually recommended for larger collapses, for people who are breathless or have low oxygen, for those with underlying lung disease, after chest trauma, or when a leak persists. Your treating team makes that call based on your imaging and how you are coping.

How painful is a chest tube for pneumothorax?

Insertion is done with local anesthetic and often sedation, and most people describe intense pressure for a few seconds rather than sharp pain, followed by relief as breathing eases. Afterward the site aches and coughing or twisting hurts, so regular pain relief is planned around breathing exercises. Removal takes seconds and feels like a brief pull. Pain that suddenly worsens or comes with new breathlessness should be reported immediately.

How long does a chest tube stay in for a collapsed lung?

Typically from several hours to several days. The tube is removed once a chest X-ray shows the lung fully re-expanded and the drainage chamber shows the air leak has stopped, often confirmed by a trial period off suction. Young people with a first spontaneous pneumothorax often need two to four days, while a persistent leak in diseased lungs can take a week or more, at which point surgical options are discussed.

What are the chances of surviving a collapsed lung?

For a spontaneous pneumothorax in an otherwise healthy person, the outlook is very good and full recovery over weeks is the norm. Risk rises with severe underlying lung disease, with major trauma, and with tension pneumothorax, a rare emergency where trapped air compresses the heart and must be released urgently. Recurrence, rather than survival, is the main concern for most young patients, which is why surgery is considered after a repeat episode.

What are the main pneumothorax treatment options besides a chest tube?

Options range from observation with supplemental oxygen and repeat imaging, to needle aspiration where air is drawn out through a fine needle in one sitting, to a chest tube, and finally to surgery. Surgery, usually keyhole VATS, seals leaking blebs and performs pleurodesis so the lung adheres to the chest wall. Chemical pleurodesis through an existing tube is an alternative for people too frail for an operation. The least invasive likely-effective option is usually tried first.

What does chest tube removal recovery look like at home?

Expect a sealed dressing over the small wound for a few days, a bruised ache in the chest wall for one to two weeks, and instructions to avoid heavy lifting, strenuous exercise, flying, and diving until a follow-up X-ray confirms the lung has stayed up. Keep the site clean and dry, continue deep-breathing exercises, and report spreading redness, fever, pus, or any return of sharp chest pain or breathlessness.

Can a collapsed lung heal on its own without a chest tube?

Yes, a small pneumothorax often reabsorbs by itself, because the body gradually takes trapped air back into the bloodstream, and supplemental oxygen speeds that process. Mayo Clinic notes this can take days to a few weeks. It is only safe when the collapse is small, symptoms are mild, and reliable follow-up imaging is arranged, so the decision to watch rather than drain is made by your clinician with a repeat X-ray already scheduled.

Why does the chest tube drainage box bubble?

Bubbling in the water-seal chamber is air leaving your pleural space, which is exactly what the tube is for. Early on it appears when you breathe out or cough. As the lung heals, bubbling fades and finally stops, and that is one of the signs the tube can come out. Continuous vigorous bubbling that does not vary with breathing can indicate a loose connection, which staff check for routinely.

When can I fly after a collapsed lung?

Not until a repeat chest X-ray confirms the pneumothorax has completely resolved and your clinician says it is safe. Cabin pressure changes can expand any residual air pocket and cause a dangerous recurrence at altitude. Guidelines generally advise a waiting period after documented resolution rather than after the tube comes out, so the specific timing should come from your treating team. Scuba diving is usually discouraged long term unless definitive surgery has been done.

Will a collapsed lung happen again?

It can. A meaningful proportion of people who have one spontaneous pneumothorax experience another, most often within the first couple of years and on the same side, with reported rates varying between studies. Smoking raises the risk substantially, and quitting is the most effective step you can take. After a second episode, or after a first one in people with high-risk occupations, surgery to seal the lung to the chest wall is usually discussed.

References

• Chest tube insertion — MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia
• Collapsed lung (pneumothorax) — MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia
• Collapsed Lung (Pneumothorax) — Cleveland Clinic
• Pneumothorax — StatPearls, NIH National Library of Medicine

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.