Monday, December 27, 2010

Blue Tongue Disease !!!

No, this child does not have Blue Tongue Disease! (There is no such thing--in humans anyways. Such a disease does exist, but it only affects cattle, goats, sheep and deer.) A few drops of blue food coloring were applied to demonstrate the general size and location of the (otherwise pink) fungiform papillae which are the little bumps scattered all over the top surface of the tongue. They are usually difficult to see unless an overgrowth of filiform papillae causes the ordinarily pink velvet of the tongue to turn white, in which case the fungiform papillae stand out as red dots.

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