Lichen planus of the lips: an intermediate disease between the skin and mucosa? Retrospective clinical study and review of the literature

Abstract

Background: Lichen planus of the lips (LPL) is not frequently described in the literature. The objective of this study is to investigate the clinical outline, behavior, and prognosis of LPL. Methods: Clinical data of patients with true oral lichen planus (LP) involving the lips, diagnosed and treated at our Oral Medicine Unit (University Federico II of Naples, Italy), have been collected and analyzed. Concurrently, a PubMed search was carried out from 1950 to March 2014 to assess epidemiological and clinical data about LPL. Results: Our case series revealed 13 patients (female/male ratio 0.4) with a mean (± SD) age of 71.85 years (± 6.72). The lower/upper lip involvement ratio was 9, mainly ..