laser tongue surgery.

Hi I've had laser tongue surgery to remove a lump from under my tongue. From the ct and mri scans they have told me that it hasn't spread. So the laser surgery is the only treatment there planning to give me. I had my laser surgery 5 days ago and i can't talk or eat very well. It's very painful. Wish it would heal quicker but i guess I'll have to wait.
  • Hi Iggy,

    I had part of my tongue removed about three weeks ago, after the first week it will slowly get better, but you have to force yourself a bit to eat as it can feel really weird. 

    I had hardly any pain after, have they given you pain killers and mouthwash to make sure it does not get infected?

    If its very painful I would contact them or your GP and ask if you can get stronger pain killers and also for them to check its not infected.

    Did they cut out just the lump or a bit of healthy tissue as well think they call it a margin? Did they say what stage it was or do any check on your neck nodes via biopsy?

  • Hi Thanks for your reply. The lump was T1. They took an healthy margin around the tongue. I've got antibiotics with àsprin and oramorph for pain relief. It's painful when ive just woken up in the morning and after I've just eaten. (I think it must be my teeth rubing on the wound) I have about 1/3 of my tongue removed but the wound is a large area. (If you look at my tongue from above i only have about 4mm removed from the corner but where the lump was the tongue is a lot thinner making the wound about half the surface area on the one side.) I'm going to see the consultant next week to see if i need more treatment. (They said they will look at the lump under a microscope and if it is a certain thickness I would need more treatment but they said this was unlikely) Just had my breakfast of wheatabix with warm milk and this is the 1st time I have eaten without the pain. But it hurt this morning when i woke up. There is a white residue under the tongue on the wound site. Is this normal.? Thanks Neil
  • Hi Neil,

    Thankfully yours seems a lot smaller than I had, even though mine was quite small as well. Mine was T1 as well about 2CM accross on the front left but they found it was very thick after surgery.

    I had a neck biopsy and they found small cancer cells but yours must of been very small if they are leaving tongue behind. Mine they removed 4cm from the front and cut it off in whole and stiched the rest back together.

    Yeah the white stuff is normal I got tons of it and used to scrape it off very horrible but it goes after a few weeks.

    I had no open wound so that might be why its more painful. Some of my stiching did come loose but that was after a few weeks. Another week and it should be a lot better.

    Good luck with your results.

     

  • Yes about the size of a pea. I thought it was an ulcer and I don't think I would have known it was there if it wasn't painful. Have you posted about your story so far ? I'll have a read through if you have. Good luck with the future!
  • HI my partner has had 2 laser surgeries on his tongue he is not the same and doesn't talk the same it was very early stages I'm worried it will come back .I'm not sure how to deal with that in my mind
  • Hello Grannyjane,

    Hope things are much better now and since your partner’s laser surgery last February.

    I’ve been through a surgery on my tongue 5 weeks ago and have since been researching on cancer prevention alternatives regarding life style and food. Otherwise I still speak with funny “accent” and can only chew on one side of my mouth. How has been his recovery regarding speech and eating?

    Best of good luck

    Yogin