Recently I started getting sores on my tongue. They are on the top of the tongue along the edge (not in the middle). They fade and then reappear. For the most part they have a white border and the center is smooth (the papillea are gone). There is a slight burning sensation especially for the sores that form at the front tip of the tongue.

I've looked all over the internet and I'm pretty sure what I have is Geographic tongue. I'm pretty sure it is not Erythematous Candidiasis since that tends to appear in the middle of the tongue and mine is along the edges.

What drives me nuts is most things on the web say it is benign with no known cause. I am pretty sure I did not have this before Dec. 2002. So why did I suddenly get this ???

The sores began to appear shortly after oral sex with an unknown women (Dec 5/02). And also 1 month after unprotected sex with another women (Nov. 3/02) ... stupid yes. I've been tested for HIV (Feb. 15/03) 3 months after sex exposure (came back negative). I understand that 3 months is sufficient to get 96% of HIV infection cases.

I am frustrated finding a cause and ultimately a solution to this problem.

Does anybody have any insights ? Thanks.

Hello , I have a 2 yr old son , and almost a year ago , we noticed these weird sores , kinda looked liked he had maybe scalded his tounge or something . Took him to the Dr , and he also called it a Geographic Tounge . We thought it was something he maybe got from daycare , and being a 2 yr old , we didnt really know if it was hurting or bothering him . Dr said there was really nothing to prevent nor cure . They disappear and come back every now and then . When we do see them appear , we try to avoid giving him any thing real acidy or peppery , anything we think wouldnt cause pain . So by readin your post , if a 2 yr can get it , Maybe yours isnt from a sexual encounter . Hope this may ease your mind a lil .

I have a friend w/ geographic tongue and it sounds like what you have, but you might want to get it checked out anyway, since it's fairly recent and not too long after you had oral sex. I think geographic tongue often is diagnosed through a process of elimination.


BTW, if I were you, I would get another HIV test at the six-month point to be sure.

You already got good advice here. I just wanted to add this....Never have unprotected sex again; no matter how tempted you might be. All it would take is having sex with one infected person; to pass all that misery on to you. It aint't worth it...even the greatest sex on earth isn't worth that. Carry condons with you at all times; so you will never be without in a pinch. good luck...I hope you get relief soon. Go to a doctor if it keeps bothering you....Deb

Well I went to see a dermatologist. His diagnosis was geographic tongue. He showed me a book of photos and I saw exactly what my tongue looks like. Again no known cause or treatment.

He said pathologically it is closely related to psoriasis. My mom has psoriasis and he said that this condition is hereditary.

It is just so weird that I haven't noticed any of this before in my 31 years and suddenly it shows up coincidental to unprotected sex.

Anyway .... does anybody know of treatments that they've tried and worked ? I already eat pretty bland food.

I have had this condition since I was a child and I can offer this to you. When the you can see the condition, do not eat, tomatoes, oranges, or anyting that has high acid levels as stated before, it will feel like you bit into sulfuric acid. Also, you will definatly want to cut down on your salt intake. I have had cases where it would last for 10-15 days when I don't watch what I eat, or as little as 1-3 days when I'm careful about what I eat.

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~cttwins~

I found this..hope it helps...
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Geographic tongue is a relatively common tongue problem that normally responds to topical steroids. We do not know the cause of geographic tongue and treatment does not permanently cure it. It does however, provide significant improvement of symptoms.

The safest treatment is topical Lidex gel applied about 4 times daily, just after meals and at bedtime. Your dentist should be able to prescribe it for you. There are stronger steroids available but they have side effects. Some patients with your problem have Zinc deficiency and your doctor could run zinc blood levels for you. If you are deficient, zinc supplementation really helps.

yeah i think i got that. it looks so nasty. i've had it for a long time i think, but just recently it's more noticable. live before it was like a small spot here or there, but now it's like on the tip of my tounge. i noticed it's better if i don't eat alot of acidic foods, or spicy stuff. and i been swishing peroxide mixed with water before i go to bed, and that seems to help. if you guys find anything else about it please lemme know, thanx
ryan

[Edited to remove cuss words.]

[This message has been edited by Well-come (edited 05-30-2003).]

These tongue problems are usually from by a vitamin B complex deficiency. They are helped by taking B complex daily.

What are the differences between Erythematous Candidiasis and Geo Tongue? That's one thing I haven't been able to find on this site. Can anyone help?

Interesting. My 18 year old daughter has had geographic tongue which we noticed when she was a baby. Then i found out my nephew has it too(since he was a baby too and he is 25 now). Neither of them have any symptoms other than the tongue looking like a map of somewhere. It was great fun when she was growing up guessing which part of the world her tongue was showing that day. It changed constantly, but she has never had any pain or swelling or edges which looked weird and neither has my nephew. But we do have psoriasis in our family and i never knew that connection. I am wondering if those of you who seem to have problems with their geographic tongue have something different than this benign interesting looking tongue our family has.