MEDICS see and treat patients with a myriad of conditions every single day. One doctor has now revealed how your tongue can be replaced with the skin from your thigh after a woman was left with a two-tone tongue. Posting to TikTok, Dr Karan Rajan responded to a woman who posted a video about her […]
MEDICS see and treat patients with a myriad of conditions every single day.
One doctor has now revealed how your tongue can be replaced with the skin from your thigh after a woman was left with a two-tone tongue.
Posting to TikTok, Dr Karan Rajan responded to a woman who posted a video about her surgery.
The woman stuck her tongue out which was slightly discoloured and asked followers what it had been replaced with.
She then moved the camera to her legs, and tenses her muscle, which reveals a space where a chunk of skin has been taken from.
Dr Rajan explained: “Doctors can make you a new tongue with the flesh from your thigh.
“Muscle and skin can be taken from the leg – it’s called a anterolateral thigh flap.
“This flap gives gives the new tongue its own blood supply.
“Then surgeons have to get artistic and fold it up nicely. This new portion of tongue might even grow thigh hair”, he added.
This is a procedure that can sometimes be performed on people who have had oral cancer.
Reconstructive surgeons can repair soft tissue in parts of the tongue taken from parts of the abdomen or the leg.
If people have had their tongue removed it is called a glossectomy.
The NHS explains: “Glossectomy is the surgical removal of part or all of the tongue. This may be used to remove cancer.
“Some healthy tissue around the edge of the tumour will also need to be removed.
This is to help reduce the risk of any cancer cells being left behind. How much of the tongue is removed depends on the size of the cancer and where it is.”
If you just have a partial glossectomy then only part of your tongue will be removed.
Some people who have the procedure often grow hairs on their tongue and this is because the tissue has come from a place where hair grows frequently, such as the legs.
