A 64-year-old smoker had a case of hairy green tongue
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You can’t unsee it.
It’s green. It’s hairy. And it’s on the tongue.
A 64-year-old man in Ohio with a history of tobacco use had elongated filiform papillae and green discoloration on his tongue for two weeks. His condition was benign, and he recovered soon after his prognosis.
The picture was published on July 6 in The New England Journal of Medicine, and a fair warning must be given that you click on the link, preferably when you’re not in the middle of a meal.
It's a thing called the hairy tongue syndrome
This condition is called hairy tongue syndrome, which occurs when a patch of hair-like substances appears on the tongue. It’s a harmless oral condition that usually results from a buildup of dead skin cells on the many tiny projections (papillae) on the surface of the tongue that contain taste buds.
These papillae can be stained by bacteria, yeast, tobacco, food, or other substances, which can result in the appearance of different colors on the tongue. The color may be brown, tan, green, yellow, or white.
The known causes of the condition are smoking, excessive coffee/black tea consumption, medication use, and poor oral hygiene.
The Ohio man is a smoker and had completed a course of antibiotics to treat a periodontal infection a few weeks before the tongue condition developed, reported Ars Technica. He was advised by the doctors to maintain oral hygiene by regularly brushing his tongue and stop smoking. The man heeded the first part of the advice but didn’t quit smoking. Thankfully, after a 6-month follow-up, the man's tongue had returned to normal.
Apparently, the condition is quite common
It occurs in approximately 13% of the population, as per The American Academy of Oral Medicine. Hairy tongue can show up at any age but is more frequent in older people, especially men.
Although the disease is not dangerous, it’s the aesthetics of it that certainly cause discomfort to the patient as well as the people around them. Only in rare cases can the condition become more persistent, but a medical checkup should be more than enough to sort the issue.
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