[Lichen sclerosus - present-day hormonal therapy]

Several treatment modalities of lichen sclerosus have been described. Topical testosterone (2%) has been the therapy of choice with improvement of symptoms in 67-100% of the patients. Newer placebo-controlled studies report success rates for testosterone of 20% which is not much higher than for placebo (10%). Treatment with the very potent steroid-like clobetasol 0.05% has been shown to be much more effective with success rates of up to 75%, while corticosteroid-related side effects like skin atrophy have not been a major problem.