A Case of Mucous Membrane Pemphigoid Masquerading as Lichen Planus
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP) is a rare, autoimmune blistering disease that affects mucosal surfaces and can mimic other inflammatory dermatoses such as erosive lichen planus (LP), lichen sclerosus, and pemphigus vulgaris. Diagnosis is challenging due to overlapping clinical and histopathological features, especially when hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining reveals nonspecific lichenoid changes. We report the case of a 79-year-old woman with a 2-year history of therapy-resistant vulvar erosions, pruritus, and pain. Initial physical exam performed by gynecology noted a focal erosion of the introitus. A vulvar biopsy showed lichenoid infiltrate with scattered eosinophils. She was initially treated with clobetasol 0.05% ointment and tacrolimus 0.1% ointment for presumed LP, without clinical improvement. The patient had also developed erosions of the oral and nasal cavities, in addition to conjunctival injection and symblepharon, prompting a biopsy of the left conjunctiva by her ophthalmologist. Direct immunofluorescence (DIF) of the conjunctiva showed linear deposits of IgG, IgA, and C3 at the basement membrane zone, consistent with MMP. Upon referral to our vulvar dermatology clinic, she was receiving rituximab infusions for her MMP and applying clobetasol 0.05% ointment to her nasal, oral, and genital ulcers. Despite improvement in the nasal and oral ulcers, vulvovaginal pruritus and pain persisted. Exam in our office was notable for well demarcated pink patches on the bilateral medial labia majora with erosions beginning in the introitus and extending into the vagina with surrounding white hyperkeratotic epithelium. Architectural changes were seen including labial agglutination, partial clitoral phimosis, and introital stenosis. Given vaginal and introital involvement, she was started on nightly hydrocortisone 25 mg vaginal suppositories and halobetasol 0.05% ointment to be applied to the labia and introitus. At follow-up, the patient reported significant improvement in pain with minimal pruritus and notable improvement of the erosions and erythema. This case uniquely contributes to the literature by highlighting the diagnostic challenges of vulvar MMP and emphasizing the importance of maintaining a high clinical suspicion for MMP when lichenoid features are present on H&E, especially in the setting of extra-genital mucosal erosions. Early recognition and diagnostic confirmation with DIF are paramount for ensuring timely treatment initiation and prevention of irreversible disease progression.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.004 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.004 | 0.003 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.004 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.003 | 0.004 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Research integrity | 0.008 | 0.004 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.002 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".