A study of the natural history of oral preleukoplakia

A preleukoplakia, conceived as a precursor stage of leukoplakia, is grey or greyish-white area with indistinct borders. The paper describes 659 preleukoplakias detected among 20,358 individuals in two districts in India. In Bhavnagar district 99.5% of the preleukoplakias were among men. 23.5% of the hookli (clay pipe) smokers had preleukoplakias. In Ernakulam district 79.6% of the preleukoplakias were found among men and the mixed habit group of bidi smoking and tobacco chewing had the highest prevalence (6.1%). The preleukoplakias showed a marked tendency to regress; among the bidi smokers in Bhavnagar, 75% regressed. In two patients preleukoplakia turned into carcinoma.