Oral cavity & oropharynx
Inflammatory / immune mediated (noninfectious)
Erythema multiforme
Author: Charu Thakral, M.D.
Last author update: 1 March 2013
Last staff update: 12 October 2020
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PubMed Search: Erythema multiforme[TI] oral[TIAB]
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Case reports | Clinical images | Microscopic (histologic) descriptionCite this page: Thakral C. Erythema multiforme. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/oralcavityerythemamultiforme.html. Accessed April 25th, 2024.
Definition / general
- Part of spectrum of reactive mucocutaneous disorders with maculopapular vesiculobulbous eruptions that includes erythema multiforme (EM - minor and major), Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS, if more mucosal involvement and epidermal necrosis) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN)
- Due to cancer, collagen vascular disorder, drugs, infection
- Oral erythema multiforme: variant with only oral lesions and no skin involvement
Case reports
- 21 and 23 year old women with drug induced lip and oral ulcerations (J Oral Maxillofac Pathol 2012;16:145)
- 40 year old man with oral variant precipitated by alcohol (Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2011;63:9)
Clinical images
Images hosted on other servers:
21 year old woman:
irregular lip uclerations and buccal mucosal
23 year old woman:
palatal ulcerations
40 year old man:
hemorrhagic bullae and target lesions
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Necrotic keratinocytes, spongiosis, basal layer liquefaction, dermal edema, perivascular or interface lymphocytes
