Oral lichen planus: a 4-year clinical follow-up study

Abstract

Background/aim: This study aimed to examine oral lichen planus (OLP) cases histopathologically and cytologically, describe different clinical aspects of OLP manifestations, and associate different OLP clinical forms with self-reported oral health and with local and systemic risk factors. Materials and methods: All patients with a referral diagnosis of OLP received biopsies. The histological evaluation assessed infiltration with lymphocytes, epithelial hyperplasia, and hyperkeratosis. Histology was used to validate the OLP diagnosis and to evaluate the malignant transformation of OLP lesions. Clinical manifestations of OLP and potential local oral environment-related risks were clinically assessed. Systemic risks were evaluated by a structured questionnaire. Results: A total of 133 patients with a histologically confirmed OLP diagnosis were followed. There were more females (N = 109) than males (N = 24) and the majority of patients were older than 50 years. The reticular form (45.1%) was the most prevalent clinical form followed by the erosive-ulcerative form (33.8%). The histological characteristics were most pronounced in the erosive-ulcerative form. Of the OLP cases, 2.3% had a malignant transformation. Conclusion: Reticular and erosive-ulcerative were the most prevalent OLP forms. There were more female than male OLP patients. Except for medication use, there were no statistically significant differences among different clinical OLP forms in either local or systemic risk factor distributions.