Pouting sublinguals: enlarged salivary glands in myxoedema.

Enlarged salivary glands are common in patients with hypothyroidism but this finding is not widely appreciated. Although chronic painless enlargement of the salivary glands was reported in papers published 50-60 years ago, mainly in German, it is not mentioned in current textbooks on the thyroid. Along with the parotids, the submandibular and especially the sublingual glands may be quite enlarged, and the enlargement can be a useful clue to the diagnosis of hypothyroidism. The gland enlargement regresses at least partly after thyroid replacement therapy.