I just went for a chest x-ray and got to see the results. unfortunately i have to wait for my doctor in 2 weeks to come back from vacation b4 he can give me the diagnosis, but i did get a peak at them and am not sure if it is good or bad. I am a smoker and trust me have been trying to quit for the past year and WILL quit very soon. I just wanted to see if anyone might know what healthier lungs or smoker's lungs look like in an xray? Should the Xray of my lungs be darker/lighter? Etc etc.

Any info would be great

JJ

Ok hope this helps. The dark parts or you lung is the part filled with air. Anything white is not filled with air but maybe filled with mucus just not inflating or maybe affected by scarring or pnuemonia. I was getting chest x-rays every time I went to doctor. Not they will switch to ct because they would like to get a better look. My sons have cystic fibrosis so we all see lots of x-rays and I have gotten used to reading them. Lungs should so as dark because they do not contain water.

You can request and get a copy of the radiologist's report from your xray. Someone has to "read" your xray (not just your doc, unless he is a radiologist too) and they have to do a report. Just go to where the xray was done and request a copy. You might have to pay a fee for copying it and you will most likely have to sign a HIPAA form.

Allsick is right about what to look for.
Whenever I get a chest X-ray(a lot), I always ask to look at it. They say they're not supposed to show me but I've never been refused. It gets pretty easy to know what you're looking at and the report usually just confirms what you already know.
Looking at my pnuemos was weird because the empty area is too black. When you finally see a little normal cloudiness it's very comforting.