Oral lichen planus: therapy and phenotype.

Area of Science:

• Oral medicine
• Dermatology
• Immunology

Background:

• Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory mucocutaneous disease with no definitive cure.
• Existing therapies for OLP offer limited efficacy, necessitating novel treatment strategies.
• A tailored therapeutic approach considering OLP's clinical variations is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and describe a therapeutic algorithm for managing symptomatic oral lichen planus.
• To evaluate the efficacy of different treatments based on OLP clinical subtypes.
• To provide a structured approach for OLP management.

Main Methods:

• Symptomatic OLP patients were divided into three groups for treatment.
• Treatments included cyclosporine mouthwash, retinoic acid lotion, and autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) gel, tailored to reticular, plaque-like, and erosive OLP types.
• Treatment durations were 8 weeks, with assessments at 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks.

Main Results:

• Twenty patients completed the study, with varying responses to treatment.
• Complete response was observed in 7 patients, partial response in 7, and no response in 6.
• The study demonstrated varied efficacy of the proposed treatments across OLP subtypes.

Conclusions:

• A clinical feature-based therapeutic algorithm for oral lichen planus is proposed.
• Further long-term studies with larger patient cohorts are required to validate these findings.
• The proposed algorithm offers a potential framework for personalized OLP management.