Salivary gland or lip biopsy

Has anyone been through biopsy to confirm sjogren’s? What was your experience? I am told it can be false negative if they pick wrong spot and complications can occur.

It is my experience, for what it is worth, that the most common forms of biopsy are either conducted on the tongue or on the lip. It is my understanding that the lip biopsy tends to be more accurate (but a bit more painful) because the salivary gland is connected more closely to this specific area of the mouth than in any other. I hope this helps....Cheryl

I am due to have a biopsy on the 16th - bit worried about it but bloods up to now have been negative, my consultant here in France is taking me in for the day for a barrage of tests - his words not mine, which include the biopsy, bloods, x rays, etc. Saying that he is 99.9% certain of the results. Very lucky that my GP actually knew about SS and referrals were really really quick!

Thanks Terri

Tez_20 said:

Hello vittel,

Try not to worry about the tests as i've add biopsies before internally and my god they did hurt but let the tests be run and from reading your profile i'd say you have it.

Just keep we all updated please on how things go.

((Hugs Terri)) xxx

vittel said:

I am due to have a biopsy on the 16th - bit worried about it but bloods up to now have been negative, my consultant here in France is taking me in for the day for a barrage of tests - his words not mine, which include the biopsy, bloods, x rays, etc. Saying that he is 99.9% certain of the results. Very lucky that my GP actually knew about SS and referrals were really really quick!

Hi Corgimom. I had a lip biopsy done to confirm I have SS. I was also positive for the SSB markers too.

It hurt like you-know-what. I don't like that they do it in a doctor's office. I find it barbaric. But it did give me definite results. I do have the disease. I had also heard you can get a false negative. Maybe start with the ultrasounds of the salivary glands first? If that shows inflammation, then you might be on to something. There are several other tests that can be done. But it can also get costly.

Even though it hurt, it was worth it to me. Now I know what I have and how to handle it (as much as I can). The biopsy gave me a quick result without going through a lot of other testing.

Hope this helps.

Blessings to you!

I had it done last week - the lip biopsy that it - and it was not pleasant I have to admit but they pumped me full of local anaethestic so I didn't actually feel anything, they had to keep topping up the anaesthetic as they managed to find a grand total of 3 salivary glands out of about 25 cuts in my bottom lip - I felt a bit hard done by as it seemed to me that they possibly took the only three viable glands that I had left!

I came out feeling as if I had had a cheese grater on my bottom lip - yes it was sore but certainly manageable. I did go straight out and get something to eat as I was absolutely starving by that stage! I found the whole thing perfectly ok, it was far better that I had anticipated to say the least!

The mouth took virtually no time to actually heal after that - although I have a couple of lumlpy bit inside my mouth that weren't there before - nothing major though!

No complications since!

I haven't heard of this procedure ,I was dx. with lupus first then SS, maybe I should check into it because ,I am taking the max. dose of evoxoc , within the past two months it's like the meds are not working like it did the first two years , so don't know were to go from here.