Clinical patterns of lichen planopilaris in patients with vulval lichen planus

Abstract

Funding sources: none. Conflicts of interest: none declared. Dear Editor, Lichen planus (LP) is a common inflammatory dermatosis that can affect the skin, scalp or nails, as well as mucosal surfaces, including oral, genital and oesophageal sites and the lacrimal duct. On the scalp, lichen planopilaris (LPP) may precede lesions of classic LP on the body in > 50% of cases,1 2 and clinically it may present with patchy or diffuse hair loss, or in the patterned variant of frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA).1 In the vulva, three forms of LP are recognized – classic, erosive and hypertrophic. The most common type of vulval LP is erosive LP, which can lead to significant scarring with alteration of the normal vulval architecture. In the vulvovaginal–gingival syndrome subtype of erosive LP, vaginal stenosis can lead to functional and psychosexual sequelae.3 The aims of our study were to determine the frequency of patients with vulval LP and concomitant scalp LPP, and to establish the patterns of scalp LPP in these patients. A secondary aim was to identify the frequency of oral LP in this cohort.