Hi there. I am an on-again off-again smoker, 36 years old. I have leukoplakia on the inside at the crease of my mouth. My oral surgeon has yet to biopsy, saying it doesn't look suspicious. What would it look like in order to be biopsied? It doesn't look good to me!

Also...what have people found effective in treating leukoplakia? I've tried beta carotene and Viatmin E supplements for over a year with no change. Any help is appreciated.

Quit smoking all together, and get a second opinion if you are not comfortable with the oral surgeons decision not to biopsy. I had my dentist look at my tumor, perform a brush biopsy (which came back inconclusive), and tell me it was "probably nothing to worry about". The ENT that dx'd my cancer said "I'd be really surprised if it comes back positive". My primary care doc called it leukoplakia and said "probably not cancer, but needs a biopsy". Guess what?!?! I had cancer!!! I'd personally have it biopsied, but I do not know what it looks like, just know my experiences. A couple months had passed before I was finally dx'd (from when I first had it looked at). I was not a happy camper to say the least. Hopefully this is not the case with you, but I prefer to err on the side of caution!!! Best wishes to you!!!

Hi Splunk,
I too had a diagnosis of leukoplakia, but mine was on right vocal chord, which was inadvertently found when having an endoscopy for reflux. Saw an ENT who also tld me he was 99.9% sure that it was not cancerous. Being that he cold not tell me 100% not cancerous, I insisted on a biopsy. Even though the procedure was painful and left me without a voice for 3 weeks, I'm glad I did it. The outcome was non-cancerous, but the ENT has been scoping me every 3 mos. to make sure there is no change. As soon as there is any evidence of an increase, I will have it biopsied again. Better to err on the caution side and be sure. This oral cancer is a terrible thing, I've witnessed this thru my Mom's oral cancer. Good luck, and insist on that biopsy, it will either rest your mind or give you a jump start on treatment, I'm praying for it to be non-cancerous.

Regards,
Margie

Thank you Margie and Rick. I scheduled another appt. with the specialist to insist they do a bopsy.

No one can tell you from LOOKING at any leukoplakia lesion if it is dangerous or not. It is however the MOST common pre cancerous lesion. So in my humble opinion the oral surgeon is a putz. Find a new guy. These white lesions can be removed by laser or incisional surgery. Your beta-carotene regime is not going to do anything, and published studies have shown this. The amount that you would have to take to match the positive response in animal models would not be healthy for you in other respects. It is common for smokers to develop leukoplakia, and sometimes upon cessation of smoking it may resolve on its own. Nevertheless, this is not something you should consider infinitely benign, and even if it was biopsied today and found to be so, it is not a stable lesion type and can convert to a malignant lesion at any time in the future. Try to have it removed. Hope that it does not return. If it does, have it biopsied on a regular schedule. Even this is a hit and miss idea. What part of the lesion might go malignant first? The left side, the right side, the center? Will the biopsy be taken at the exact place where the cells have gone to the dark side? Lastly, give up the tobacco permanently. It will only lead to something bad in the future.