Erythroplakia: Symptoms & Treatment
What is Erythroplakia?
You know how everyone tells you that if you see a mole or a freckle on your body start to take on an odd shape or color, you should go see the doctor right away? That's good advice, as it could be a sign of a serious melanoma. But your skin isn't the only thing you should keep tabs on. If you see a strange shape and color on the mucous membranes of your mouth, that may be a problem worth checking out right away, too.
Mucous membranes are tissues that line a body cavity and secrete mucus, and we have them in many places in our bodies. The mucous membrane in the mouth is visible - all you have to do is open wide in front of a mirror and say 'Aaaah.' You'll have an up-close view of all those red and moist membranes in your mouth.
One of the possible causes for a strange shape or color in your mouth is something called erythroplakia, which is just a big word for a red patch inside of the mouth that may be representative of the development of oral cancer. The word itself comes from erythro-, which means red, and -plakia, which denotes a flat plane of some sort.
Signs and Symptoms of Erythroplakia
So what does erythroplakia looks like? Well, there are several things to look out for:
- A red, homogenous, patch-like area on the mucosal surface
- A smooth, velvety, or finely granular appearance to this area
- Relatively slow-growing in nature
- Lack of ulceration (bleeding) unless scraped
- At least early on, the absence of pain in the area in question
- Well-defined margins
The last two points are actually very important to note. Most often, we're accustomed to something being painful as alarming and something that's not painful as being less alarming. However, there are plenty of instances where something that isn't painful is potentially more deadly than something that is.
On that note, I'd like to repeat two things here with respect to erythroplakia: at least early on, there is an absence of pain and the patch-like area has well-defined margins. This must be contrasted from an inflammatory process occurring in the mouth. An inflammatory process is more likely to be painful and is less likely to have clearly defined margins (borders).
In the case of erythroplakia, such a lesion represents the potential for a cancerous process as opposed to an inflammatory one. By lesion, I mean some sort of pathological change in a tissue.
Treatment of Erythroplakia
Oral cancer is absolutely no joke, and any signs of erythroplakia should be looked into immediately by a doctor. Although, that isn't to say that erythroplakia is a definitive sign of the development of oral cancer or the potential to develop oral cancer -- but it is a potential sign.
Once a doctor has examined the area and taken a sample of cells from it to be examined under the microscope for signs of potential cancer, erythroplakia can be treated through surgical removal. This is the most common treatment option, although in some instances cryosurgery, where the patch is destroyed via freezing, or laser surgery can be used.
Other than surgery, there is no known effective method of preventing potentially cancerous eyrthroplakia from developing into a case of full blown oral cancer.
Lesson Summary
It bears repeating that you should see a doctor right away if you spot anything suspicious along the lines of erythroplakia inside of your mouth. Erythroplakia is a word for a red patch with well-defined margins and a velvety or granular texture to it that develops on the mucous membranes of the mouth. The mucous membranes are a type of tissue that appear red and moist when you open your mouth. They cover the inside of your lips, cheeks, tongue, palate, and throat. The only way to properly treat erythroplakia when there is the potential for it to develop into cancer is through surgery.
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BackErythroplakia: Symptoms & Treatment
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