NEW LEUKOPLAKIA FORMED ABOUT A CENTIMETER BELOW PARTIAL GLOSSECTOMY SCAR WHERE THERE WAS A MICRO-INVASIVE OSCC

Well, I guess I'll post this here as a repost as a new thread with a separate question.

So I saw my ENT Oncology surgeon several weeks ago for a August follow up from my February VERY partial glossectomy. Was like my 3rd post surgery follow up check up.

Everything healed up very well. Zero pain or problems like a month or two after the surgery.

For the most part that continues to be the case now.

I get an occassional cramping like pain, very minor, in the area that's only really been a thing in the last month or a little more, with a slight increase in frequency.

I discussed that with the surgeon, and he explained the tongue had been through quite a lot, and scar tissue forms and changes and things get pulled tight etc.

To me it seemed a bit odd that this long after the surgery I am getting the cramping sensations.

Unlike the little pimple that turned out to be cancer, there is no currently persistent sore spot.

I have noticed, and discussed with surgeon a new leukoplakia, about 1 cm below the scar from the surgery.

It seemed to be too far from the main scar to be a suture scar, and he agreed that it is not likely to be that. It did not feel firm to him, in fact he could not feel any texture to this lesion at all. Which neither did my first moderately dysplastic lesion. The cancer pimple did protrude a bit.

I can see tiny white dots around the main scar that I think are likely where the sutures have been absorbed and tiny little areas of scar tissue, that would be similar in size to the sutures.

The new leukoplakia is about the same sub-centimeter or maybe pushing a centimeter as the first lesion way back. This one does seem to have some pitting or ulceration to it, especially when I manipulate the surrounding tissue. It's not sore or sensitive at this point.

The surgeon did say he could do an in office biopsy right there in the exam room when I come in for a bi-monthly check up, that I would not need my wife or anyone to come, as it would just be local anesthetic and a couple stitches.

I did not try to show him the dimpling effect it had when pressed, it kind of slipped my disorganized mind.

I think I know what Nels and some of you other active cancer veterans would say: "Just biopsy it".

I am leaning towards doing that next time, or at least more seriously discussing it with the Dr.

Obviously if it progresses, AT ALL, between now and October, I'll request he go ahead and remove it and sent it off to the the lab.

Unless he says if we start doing this, we'll be repeating the process every couple months as a new leukoplakia pops up.

So I guess my question is for folks who have had cancer and multiple leukoplakias, for NEW ones do you pretty much ALWAYS get them biopsied after the 2-3 week period of "if it doesn't heal; BIOPSY IT!"?

The original lesion was biopsied ONCE, and so long as no changes, I just saw an oral surgeon once a year.

It changed, got the little pimple like eruption that was SORE when manipulated, and stayed sore days after, so that change triggered the biopsy that found the cancer.

I guess that would be a prudent approach, every time a new one pops up, confirm it is not cancer, then just watch it (like a hawk).

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.

I'll go spelunking in the past forums and see if I can find anyone else experiencing new post surgery leukoplakias and how they dealt with them or what people said how they dealt with them.