Leukocytoclastic vasculitis (anaphylactoid purpura): a unique occurrence in the oral cavity

Leukocytoclastic vasculitis, immune complex disorder (type III), is a skin disease with both an acute form characterized by bullae, vesicles and ulcerations, and a chronic form characterized by petechiae, macules and ulcerations. The disease presents certain systemic features including diffuse or focal glomerulonephritis and renal failure. The histopathologic characteristics of leukocytoclastic vasculitis in the skin appear primarily in small blood vessels and consist of an infiltration of inflammatory cells, leukoclasis, swelling of endothelial cells, occlusion of blood vessels, accumulation of fibrin and fibrinoid degeneration, as well as the presence of immune complexes in and around blood vessel walls. Although leukocytoclastic vasculitis is described as several diseases which can spread systemically, including the gastrointestinal tract and the kidneys, the manifestations of the disease in the oral cavity have not yet been reported. The present paper reports unique oral lesions in a 38-yr-old woman, diagnosed as leukocytoclastic vasculitis, without any accompanying skin or systemic lesions.