Clinical characteristics and prognosis of lichen planus: An experience from a teaching Hospital of Pakistan

Lichen planus (LP) is an inflammatory skin disease, characterized by pruritic, violaceous papules with adnexal involvement in some patients. There is scarce literature about clinical presentations of LP in Pakistan and south Asian region.

We aimed to assess the clinical characteristics and prognosis of LP in outpatients of a tertiary-care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.

A retrospective file review was conducted, from January 2017 to December 2020. Data were retrieved from coded dermatology outpatients' database. All files with clinical and/or histopathological diagnosis of LP were included in the study. While collecting data, we found missing information, in these cases, telephonic calls were made. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 2 (Armonk, NY).

A total of 185 records were reviewed, with mean age of 40.5 ± 17.52 years (0.07), and female predominance of 64.3% (P value 0.002). The most common comorbidity was hypertension, found in 14.8% (n = 28), followed by diabetes mellitus in 11.1% (n = 21) patients. A positive family history for LP was found in 4.8% (n = 4). The mean duration of lesions was 3.61 ± 4.43 years, with a maximum of 28 years (P value 0.07). The most common type of LP was cutaneous, in 51.8% (n = 72). The most common site of lesions was the legs (22.2%, n = 42). Fifty-five patients had HCV screening which was negative. Among topical medications, corticosteroids were the most commonly prescribed medications (n = 109, 57.6%) followed by Tacrolimus (n = 58.29%).

Cutaneous LP without adnexal involvement was found to be the most common type with female predominance. The most frequent comorbidity seen was hypertension and diabetes. There was no association found in patients whose HCV status was known with LP. Duration of disease was variable with maximum 28 years.