Hi,

I had SCC on the right side of my tongue, too. T1 N0, well differentiated. I’m almost at the 5 year mark but I got it at the age of 25, am a non-smoker, HPV negative, and didn’t drink other than occasional socially. The sore was there for 6 or 7 months before my biopsy.

There is a rise in young, non-smoking women who are HPV negative getting tongue cancer. Not any other type of oral cancer. Tongue. I think I read that it’s one of the faster growing segments of patients being seen for this but I’ll have to find the article/study. I wonder about environmental factors, too. There’s got to be something that will connect the dots. They mentioned something about mouthwash and teeth whitening and an interaction with estrogen but this was just in pondering what possible reason there would be for the increase. I’m not sure about cellphones but I haven’t thought much of it. But I do feel it would be interesting to do a study on our specific group to see if they can find a common factor. Although I realize that epidemiological studies, while they can prove correlation, can rarely prove cause.

I wish you a speedy recovery and am sorry you are going through this.

Kat