‘Full House’ Star Dave Coulier Talks Tongue Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment

Actor and comedian Dave Coulier, best known for his role in the sitcom “Full House,” recently sat down with CURE to discuss facing cancer for the second time.

In December 2025, Coulier, 66, announced that he had received an early-stage tongue-cancer diagnosis known as oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in October, with this diagnosis coming seven months after announcing that he was cancer-free from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which he had been diagnosed with in 2024.

Coulier sat down for an interview with CURE to discuss his diagnosis, his treatment journey and the side effects he has experienced.

Transcript

Can you walk us through how this second cancer diagnosis unfolded? What were the first signs, and how did you react when you learned something might be wrong?

I went in for a routine PET scan to check on my non-Hodgkin lymphoma prognosis, and something flared in my throat. The doctors said, “We don't know what it is. We don't think it's cancer at the outset, but let's do a biopsy in that area.” So, I had surgery. They put me under and used a needle to poke eight different places in my tongue, very deep. It was a very painful surgery to recover from, since I couldn't swallow for a couple of weeks, but they didn't find anything (abnormal) when they went in and took samples of the cells. I thought, “Oh, OK.” I asked, “What is it?” They said, “We're not sure, but we don't think it's cancer.” I said, “OK.”

Then the swelling didn't go away as expected after that kind of surgery. I thought something's going on, so I went to an ear, nose and throat oncologist. He said, “I want to get a CT scan and an MRI. Between those three scans and the PET scan, I'll have a really good picture of what's going on, but I just want to make sure.”

So, we did those. The scans came back and he said, “I think it's carcinoma.” I said, “OK.” He explains, “We're going to go right into the base of your tongue, where it attaches to your throat, and we're going to robotically remove about an inch of that top layer of skin on your tongue.” I said, “That sounds like it might be painful.” He said, “It's going to be painful. I'm not going to lie to you, this is going to be a painful surgery to recoup from.” I said, “OK, let's do it.” We did, and he was right; it was really painful.

Before the skin was even healed, he said, “I want to get you into radiation.” That’s what I'm currently going through: 35 radiation treatments, and today was number 20 out of 35. It's been a real adjustment. It's not as systemic as chemotherapy treatment, but it still has its quirky side effects.

I have fatigue, I can't taste anything, and my mouth is completely numb. The left side of my face feels like I have a terrible sunburn. If you’ve had canker sores on your gums, your tongue, or inside your mouth, your lips, I have those.

It's kind of like a headache that starts in my ear, because it's connected to my throat, the Eustachian tube. So, it's like having a really bad earache. It feels like I bit my tongue and it feels like I have canker sores all at once.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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