Since oral cancer surgery, Liu Jun has rarely left the house, and he once picked up a mirror to look at his face: the left jaw, left gum bed and lymph were cut off, the shrunken skin of the face was sunk into a deep pit the size of a fist, and the left eye was completely blind due to nerve compression.
Such a strange and even terrible image, even after watching it for a long time, you will feel disgusted, not to mention how disgusted and afraid others will see it.
"It's all betel nut!" If life can be repeated, I will not touch the betel nut when I am killed. ”
1. Chewing betel nut to chew out oral cancer
In 2015, 26-year-old Liu Jun was at a party with friends, out of curiosity and friends' "kindness", he first came into contact with betel nuts, "At that time, I chewed two or three, the taste was actually average, but after chewing it felt refreshed, a little stimulating and a little excited." Since then, Liu Jun seems to have an addiction, feeling uncomfortable a day without chewing betel nuts, and he has to prepare a few packs when he goes out at home.
In 2018, Liu Jun found that he seemed to have white patches in his mouth, and his tongue licked it, which was a little rough, but he thought it was a mouth ulcer and did not have many tubes. However, as the white spots in his mouth grew larger and larger, Liu Jun seemed to have more and more difficulty eating, and he could bite off most of the apple in one bite before, but now his mouth could not be opened, as if he was involved in something. Liu Jun tried to take anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve it, but to no avail. In the end, the mouth could not be opened, and Liu Jun rushed to the dental hospital for treatment.
After examination, the doctor found that Liu Jun's mouth should have been a light pink soft bilateral buccal mucosa and upper palatal mucosa, and now it has become a very hard white patch, and the diseased oral mucosal tissue has lost its flexibility, limiting the amplitude of Liu Jun's mouth movement.
After that, the doctor removed part of the mucosal tissue in Liu Jun's mouth and cheek to the pathology department for examination, and a few days later, the pathological diagnosis result showed: oral mucosal squamous cell carcinoma.
In the face of Liu Jun's incomprehension, the doctor explained: "I have seen a lot of patients like you, several like you, betel nut is addicted, can not stop chewing, how to persuade is useless, think it is alarmist." Wait until you can't open your mouth to come to the hospital, we are also helpless. ”
Second, life and face, you can only choose one
"There are two options for the current situation, one is surgery, resection of the lesion, but your situation is more complicated, the defect area is relatively large, the part to be removed and cleaned is relatively wide, you may need to take a flap transplant from the double chin or thigh, of course, this has a relatively large impact on your appearance." If you choose not to operate, conservative treatment, survival we can not guarantee, you may be more painful in the later stage. Although the doctor provided 2 options, for Liu Jun, it was equivalent to no choice: "No face is better than no life, everyone will choose surgery." ”
In this way, the 29-year-old Liu Jun recovered a life through surgery, but at the same time became a "face cutter". On the day he returned home from the hospital, the neighbor heard the movement and came to visit the door, and when he saw Liu Jun, he was startled and did not stop shouting. Liu Jun "had no face" to see people and hurriedly hid in the room.
Third, betel nut, is making 1 million "face cutters"
"Betel nut plus smoke, the mana is boundless, betel nut with wine, immortal." Although it is an exaggeration, it vividly describes the "coolness" that betel nut brings to the chewer.
Betel nut contains betel nut base and betel nut sub-base, these alkaloids are quickly absorbed into the blood through the buccal mucosa, can stimulate muscarinic (M) receptors, produce parasympathetic excitatory effects, let people produce a feeling of euphoria, pleasure, relaxation and refreshment within 5 minutes, and become a way for some people to relieve fatigue, cope with stress, relax their mood, so people can't stop.
Different from the status of "fairy fruit" among the general public, betel nut has long been "notorious" in the medical field, and it is closely related to oral lesions and oral cancer, and is considered to be a "poisonous fruit". As early as 2003, the International Center for Research on Cancer published a report identifying betel nut as a first-class carcinogen.
Although the betel nut contained in betel nut has a refreshing effect, it will also promote the deposition of collagen fibers, causing submucosal fibrous lesions in the oral cavity. After oral mucosal fibrosis, the patient's tongue and oral mucosa will harden, resulting in difficulty in opening the mouth, the tongue cannot be protruded, and the mouth will appear ulcers and leukoplakia, which is very painful. At the same time, fibrous lesions of the oral mucosa are also precancerous lesions of oral cancer, which are easily transformed into oral cancer after a long delay.
In addition, betel nut extract may also activate oncogenes, causing mutations in genes, greatly increasing the incidence of oral cancer.
"Face cutter" who suffers from cancer from chewing betel nut
A statistical data from the Stomatological Hospital of Wuhan University shows that in 2016, 1119 patients with oral submucosal fibrosis were treated; in 2017, 1489 patients with oral submucosal fibrosis were treated, and the age of these patients was concentrated in 20 to 30 years old, and the youngest patient was only 16 years old, and they all had the habit of chewing betel nut, and from chewing betel nut to the onset of the disease, the shortest was only two or three months.
In addition, a paper published in the Chinese Journal of Dental Research pointed out that among the five hospitals in Changsha, Hunan Province, the number of oral cancer cases was only 305 in 2005, and it increased to 2108 cases in 2016. Among them, 1803 oral cancer patients in 2016 regularly chewed betel nut.
Once you develop oral cancer, surgery is the treatment of choice. Generally, after removing the oral tumor and cleaning the lymph nodes, the doctor will take out the tissue with blood vessels from the patient's double chin and thigh, repair it in the mutilated tongue and mouth, and use a microscope to anastomose the blood vessels to ensure that the flap is alive and restore the integrity of the oral mucosa. After repair, although the patient can restore speech, chewing and swallowing function, because oral cancer surgery affects the entire face, patients are likely to have the terrible sequelae of cutting off half of the face.
Postoperative patients with oral cancer
Fourth, do you not eat betel nut, can you do it?
In addition to causing oral cancer, studies have shown that long-term chewing of betel nut can increase the risk of esophageal cancer, liver cancer, cirrhosis, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, chronic kidney disease and other diseases, and even directly affect. The addictive nature of betel nut can also lead to adverse pregnancies, anemia and acute severe asthma.
In fact, betel nut has been listed as a "drug" in Turkey, Australia and other countries. Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Thailand and other countries have also banned the sale and import of betel nuts.
On September 17, 2021, the State Administration of Radio and Television also issued a notice saying that from now on, it will stop using radio and television and online audio-visual programs to promote betel nut and its products.
However, although advertising is explicitly prohibited, betel nut has not been completely discouraged, and it can still be bought at will in life, and if you continue to ignore the harm of betel nut and still chew it without scruples, the damage caused will be irreparable.
A paper published in the Chinese Journal of Dental Research, "Predicting the Number of Betel Nut-Induced Oral Cancers in China and the Medical Burden It Generates," pointed out that by 2030, the total number of betel nut-related oral cancer patients in Hunan will exceed 300,000, and in the whole country, it may exceed 1 million, and they are likely to become the next "face cutters".
In the face of such a situation, resolutely not eating betel nut is the simplest requirement for the public, can you do it?
Resources:
[1] "The betel nut industry has aroused health concerns, and many countries and regions have said "no" to betel nut". Workers Daily.2019-03-31
[2] How many people have been harmed by the "drug" of betel nut? 》. Tencent Medical Code.2021-10-08
Shao Xiaojun,Xi Qing. Consumption of betel nut and its relationship with oral cancer[J].International Journal of Stomatology,2015,42(06):668-672
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