A 30-Year-Old Woman with a ‘Burning’ Tongue

Case
A 30-year-old woman visited urgent care complaining of a burning sensation on her tongue. At first, she had blamed it on a spicy meal, but the feeling didn’t go away and now she feels as though she isn’t able to taste food as usual.

Looking back, she recalls that over a month ago she noticed a white plaque on her tongue. However, that had had disappeared within a day so she hadn’t thought much of it.

View the photo and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.