Hello! I am a 39 year old female in good health. In the past 4 months I have had 2 occasions where a single blood blister appeared in the roof of my mouth. Once in the soft palate, where hard meets soft and most recently closer to the hard palate. Both times, I felt a pinch when drinking and eating and examined my mouth to find the dark red blood blister. It was small until I scratched it (trying to break it) and it grew really large. The first time a doctor lanced and drained it thinking it was a simple scratch. Then it happened again and this time an oral surgeon has sent it for biopsy. The results so far are inconclusive. There is no gum involvement or other rashes or sores on my body. They do not hurt, and there has been only 1 blood blister at a time. When I pressed on it, it began to leak blood. My doctor suspects mucous membrane pemphighoid (MMP), but I read that this is extremely rare and usually in older people. Could this be ABH? Or a simple poke of food? How rare is MMP and does anything I've told you suggest one over the other? Many thanks!

Hello Newbie

You may find the answer to a similar question of help. Please also have look at these previous posts about blood blisters.

Hope that helps.

Best wishes
Vinod

Thank you, I did see most of them. I am curious if there is a way to distinguish this from something harmless or MMP based upon the description, symptoms, onset, etc. Basically, what are the distinguishing features of MMP vs. harmless blood blisters?

Thank you sooo much!

from Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1988 Jul;66(1):37-40

quote:

Mucous membrane pemphigoid: an elusive diagnosis?

Manton SL, Scully C.
University Department of Oral Medicine, Surgery, and Pathology, Bristol Dental Hospital and School, England.

Vesiculobullous diseases, including mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP), are uncommon. This study was a retrospective examination of the clinical findings, histopathologic findings, and lesional immunostaining with respect to 76 consecutive patients referred to the Department of Oral Medicine, Surgery and Pathology, Bristol Dental Hospital and School, between 1982 and 1985 with a potential diagnosis of MMP. Of these, 42 patients were assigned alternative clinical diagnoses, 71% of which were confirmed by immunostaining and histology. Thus, MMP was clinically diagnosed in 34 patients (28 women and 6 men, with an average age of 59 years). However, unequivocal histologic confirmation of this diagnosis was obtained for only 4 patients, and direct immunostaining confirmation was obtained for just 7 patients. On the basis of a combination of the clinical, histopathologic, and direct immunofluorescence examinations, in only 3 of the 34 patients (8%) was an unequivocal diagnosis of classic MMP possible.

More information about MMP (pdf): here

Newbie,

I have learned a lot about MMP in the last 12 months and let's just say I am younger than you and I learned it all the hard way !
If your doctor suspects it then he should have followed it up. Rare yes, but a dermatologist will nail it pretty quickly.

The gory stuff you want to know applied to me. Affected any part of my body with soft tissue (including eyes) mouth, throat, scalp, back, genitals. It wasnt nice. Very rare like you say, very unlikely and seemingly a very mild version for you if at all.

I could type all night, but I would suggest over 4 months yours is something much more innocent. Even if it is MMP and it hasn't affected your eyes, it should be easily treatable. Get to a dermatologist/dentist and put your mind at rest.

About the only useful thing I remember is the ulcers were quicker to arrive after spicy food, Fingers crossed it just turns out you aren't reacting well to chilli !

Mark.