I have been reading some posts here, but reality just hit me over the head - tomorrow is biopsy day!
I have had a white plaque lesion on left tongue for about a year. Thought it was scar where a broken tooth had cut my tongue last year. Dentist sent me to oral surgeon for opinion which leads me to the knife tomorrow.
Oral surgeon suspects it is dysplasia and I hope he is right. He is doing local and said I'd have a few stitches.
What kind of recovery time am I looking at? My job now requires a lot of talking. I hope to be able to work the next day.
I will deal with any worse pathology results if they happen, but I am acutely aware as a smoker that I may have that hill to climb.
Any helpful info on what I will feel like after the biopsy such as swelling, pain, ability to swallow/talk would be appreciated.

Welcome to OCF. Hope your biopsy turns out to be nothing serious. Your recovery will depend on how much tissue was taken, how deep they surgeon cut, how many stitches, etc. If I had to guess, I would say your first 2 or 3 days would be uncomfortable. Your tongue will be sore, the doc should give you some pain killers. Talking could be uncomfortable, I would guess you will need a day or 2 off from work before you will feel up to going back. Honestly a biopsy isnt that bad, in a couple days and you will be ok.

Now, there is something very serious I should mention to you. Tobacco contains so many harmful chemicals and is deadly! The smoking will be something you must avoid or your healing will be delayed. If you are lucky enough to be diagnosed with dysplasia then take that as a warning signal. I hope you understand if you continue to smoke then you are putting your health in jeopardy. I was a former smoker, it was from this habit that I almost lost my life and left my children without a parent. Smoking was something that was a terrible habit, if I can quit so can you. Please get rid of the cigs so you dont ever have to go thru what I did, you do NOT want to live your life looking like I do.

Good luck tomorrow!!!

Hi oat welcome.. Hopefully it's nothing but Christine is right smoking will stunt the healing process but I'm not going to lecture. In answer two your question your tongue may be tender for a week or two the first biopsy I had I was fine after a week the second time it never healed but at that point it was cancerous. Good luck fingers crossed this is just a wake up call and not the real thing.

I can only speak for myself - my lesion was on the underside of my tongue, on the right side, smack dab in the middle-ish, near my molars. I will tell you my own experience - I had two biopsies.

The first biopsy was pre-diagnosis and for the purpose of diagnosing. My oral surgeon injected my tongue, which - I'm not going to lie - hurt like hell. He also had to inject me more than once because I have a high tolerance to pain medication, unfortunately for me.

Once the numbing medicine kicked in, though, I didn't feel a thing. He did the biopsy with a scalpel and basically shaved off a piece of the lesion and then sewed it with traditional type stitches (not dissolving ones).

He prescribed Lortab for me to take once the numbing medicine started wearing off. The worst part afterwards was the stitches - because the lesion was on the underside of my tongue, the stitches could be felt constantly - they felt like I had a spider in my mouth. Not fun. In the days following, my tongue was quite sore, but primarily when I swallowed or said certain words (pretty interesting when you realize how much your tongue moves when you speak). For about 2 - 3 days, I can honestly say that my tongue was VERY sore and swallowing was painful.

Of course, I don't smoke, so the healing process proceeded relatively normally from there. To that effect I will say that everything I've read about oral cancers states that they are FAR more common in smokers. With that in mind, I can only say to you - if you value your life and quality of life, it behooves you to quit. Immediately. That's all I'm going to say about that.

My second biopsy was post-diagnosis in an attempt to qualify me for a clinical trial. Again, I had to be injected right into my tongue and it hurt A LOT but once the numbing medicine took effect, I felt nothing. The second biopsy they did with an instrument that looked like a little stick with a mouth at the end of it - if you've ever seen those plastic alligator heads that kids used to play with - where there was a stick with a trigger at one end and the gator head at the other - well that's what this instrument sort of resembled. My doctor used that to basically yank pieces of my tongue out - fortunately, I didn't feel that. Then when he was done, I think he used sulfur oxide or something like that - it was some chemical at the tip of what looked similar to a Q-tip and used that to chemically cauderize the wound - it basically sealed it up without the need for stitches - thankfully.

The pain afterward was slightly less than the first biopsy, possibly due to the lack of stitches. Hope this helps - I was as honest as possible.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. The procedure is done. No pain when he inserted the needle! I think Pepper describes the biopsy well and I think the location is very much the same. Thanks for the image of spiders-that's oh so accurate.
I have a few stitches that are starting to hurt as the local wears off.
So the waiting game. Two weeks for pathology results. He said even if it comes back "bad" that it is early and in an area that leaves less impairment when removed.
So all in all I am glad that part is over and pray that there will be no "bad"!
I am committed to not smoke ever again - I had cut back significantly in the past year so shouldn't be too hard. Had the last one this morning.

Pat, thinking of you and your attitude is excellent! I especially liked reading the quitting smoking part.

I'll keep the positive vibes flowing your way.

I am so happy to hear you are quitting cigs!!! You have made my day!!! Hope you bounce back quickly and the results show nothing serious. Most biopsies are about a week for the results, 2 weeks is a long time. Keep yourself very busy to keep your mind off not just worrying, but also the cigs.

Good luck!!!

Hi! Glad it went well and so glad you've quit... Fingers crossed its not cancerous!!!

Good luck to you!! Praying for a negative test report back. How's the healing going?

Thanks for the prayers and encouragement! site is very sore when I swallow or talk because it rubs over the molars -- ouch. But I can't complain knowing what many of you are enduring. Still no smoking and that has been easy. Just rub my sore tongue over my teeth and I know why smoking would be insane.
Ce sera sera - whatever will be will be.
Pat