Diagnostic and Management Approach towards Oral Lichen Planus in Adolescents: Report of Two Cases and Review of Current Concepts - Abstract
Oral lichen planus (OLP), is a chronic inflammatory disease that mainly affects women and is rarely observed in children and adolescents. We report here two cases of OLP in adolescents and review the cases published in the literature. First one, a 10-year-old boy exhibited asymptomatic lesion in the vermillion border of the lower lip and white lesions on the dorsum of the tongue. The second one, a 15-year-old boy presented asymptomatic white striations and plaques in the tongue and buccal mucosa. Incisional biopsies were performed under the clinical hypothesis of OLP. Microscopically, it was observed fragment of oral mucosa lined by orthoceratinized stratified squamous epithelium. Areas of basal cell degeneration and a band-like infiltrate of inflammatory cells predominantly lymphocytic around the basement membrane region. Based on clinical and histopathological features, the histopathological diagnosis of OLP was rendered. In children and adolescents, OLP clinically resembles the disease seen in adult patients but the prognosis is more favorable. Physicians and dentists should be aware of the occurrence of OLP in childhood and adolescence since it is often not included in the differential diagnosis of white lesions in this age group.