Symptoms of Lichen Planus
Lichen Planus is an autoimmune disease affecting the skin, eyes, lining of the mouth, and genitalia caused by an abnormal immune reaction. The body’s white blood cells mistake the body’s skin for a foreign entity and attack it causing blister-like lesions to form on the skin and mucous membrane, usually clearing within eighteen months.
Lichen Planus affects more women than men and occurs most often in middle age. It is very rare in children. The development of the disease can be slow and is often diagnosed with other autoimmune diseases are present in the body. The cause is unknown though there have been links found between Lichen Planus and a high stress life style.
References on Lichen Planus
Pathogenesis of the OLP should be taken in consideration for the treatment point of view. The Cell mediated immunity to secondary antigenic change in oral mucous membrane is thought to play a major role in its pathogenesis modified keratocyte surface antigens are the primary target for cytotoxic cellular response. Curcumin also been shown to have immune modulatory effect involving activation of host macrophages and natural killer cells and modulation of lymphocytes mediated function.
Background and objective: Treatment of oral lichen planus (OLP) remains a great challenge for clinicians. The aim of our study was to compare the effect of low intensity laser therapy (LILT) with topical corticosteroids in the treatment of oral erosive and atrophic lichen planus.
Materials and methods: Thirty patients with erosive-atrophic OLP were randomly allocated into two groups. The experimental group consisted of patients treated with the 630 nm diode laser. The control group consisted of patients who used Dexamethason mouth wash. Response rate was defined based on changes in the appearance score and pain score (Visual Analogue Scale) of the lesions before and after each treatment.
Results: Appearance score, pain score, and lesion severity was reduced in both groups. No significant differences were found between the treatment groups regarding the response rate and relapse.
Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that LILT was as effective as topical corticosteroid therapy without any adverse effects and it may be considered as an alternative treatment for erosive-atrophic OLP in the future.
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