I have been dealing with large leukoplakia on my lateral tongue for the past couple of years now. It has been biopsied a couple of times and came back as mild dysplasia both times.
I see an Otolaryngologist at the Ingram Cancer Center at Vanderbilt in Nashville TN.
My doctor believes it is a low risk leukoplakia and gave me the option to either surgically remove it or continue to monitor it every three months. Right now it is being monitored every three months.

I also visited Dr Sook Bin Woo at Dana Faber and she diagnosed its a proliferative verrucous leukoplakia.
She said surgically removing it was my choice but there was an 70% chance it would all come back. Since PVL is a high risk lesion she also advised me to monitor it.

I am torn between surgery or monitoring it. I discussed with my doctor if there is any flip side to surgery and he said nothing major outside of the short term discomfort.
Since there is a difference of opinion, I wanted to consult another oral lesion specialist. I am willing to travel anywhere in the country.
Would appreciate recommendations of doctors who are specialists in the field of oral lesion management.

Also any advice on how to approach this decision making problem is highly appreciated.
I am torn between whether to go for surgery - best case the lesion goes away forever or worst case it all comes back
OR
Continue to monitor it.

Also is scalpel surgery better than laser? My doctor is leaning towards scalpel surgery as it gives the pathologist the opportunity to study the lesion.
I wanted to know if one way or other(laser or scalpel) affects recurrence in anyway.

Highly appreciate your inputs.

Thank you.