What is the bump on the underside of the tongue?

Question

Hi doctor,

I have developed a large, hard lump on the underside of my tongue. It is grayish-white in color and does not hurt at all. It feels like a hard ball in my tongue. Also, I have other small red bumps. I do not know how long they have been there and I just noticed it before two days. These are weird and seem to be growing. I have never noticed it before. I have suddenly started getting acne all over my face and I never had it before in my life. Could this be related somehow? I am 25 now. I used to smoke but stopped some months ago. I drank a lot for a couple of years.

Please help.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

The hard lump under your tongue is mostly inflammation which usually gets very hard due to the structure of the tongue. The bumps are formed when the inflamed tongue presses against the teeth causing that particular pattern. The inflammation of the tongue usually becomes very hard to touch and grayish, it will take at least a week or two to return to normal. The acne problem might be due to increased hormonal activity in your body mostly and is not related to the other.

I would suggest you wait for 10 days for the tongue to return to normal. If you could take medicines over-the-counter, I would suggest you to take anti-inflammatory medication twice for five days. Kindly answer me, so that I can diagnose any other possible condition if necessary. Do you have any signs of fever or other health problems currently? Recently, did you bite your tongue accidentally? Did you change your food habits recently? Do you have any ulcerous lesions in your tongue other than the lump which causes pain?

I hope this helps.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I have seen such cases in my patients; it is due to some accidental injury. So, do not worry about it for at least 10 days. If you are unsure and want to confirm then you can approach a dentist for a biopsy of the inflammation and perform a pathological examination. It would be mostly a fibrous deformation and take at least 10 days to heal. The only problem is a biopsy which would cause further injury to the area and take a few more weeks for complete healing. It is better to wait without worry.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.