What are sublingual varicosities? What is their significance?
They are enlarged and purplish veins of the tongue’s undersurface. They resemble little drops of purpleblack
caviar, and thus are often referred to as caviar lesions. Varicosities of this type tend to be an entirely
normal by-product of age, due to loss of elasticity in the venous wall, resulting in venodilation and
tortuosity, often resembling a hemangioma. Still, in some patients they may indicate a chronic increase in
right-sided cardiac pressure, and thus suggest a diagnosis of either superior vena cava syndrome or
congestive heart failure.
They are enlarged and purplish veins of the tongue’s undersurface. They resemble little drops of purpleblack
caviar, and thus are often referred to as caviar lesions. Varicosities of this type tend to be an entirely
normal by-product of age, due to loss of elasticity in the venous wall, resulting in venodilation and
tortuosity, often resembling a hemangioma. Still, in some patients they may indicate a chronic increase in
right-sided cardiac pressure, and thus suggest a diagnosis of either superior vena cava syndrome or
congestive heart failure.