The vulvo-vaginal-gingival syndrome. A new form of erosive lichen planus.

Abstract

The vulvo-vaginal-gingival syndrome, a new form of erosive lichen planus, has recently been described. The clinical features of this condition are reviewed and summarized based on the personal examination of 19 affected patients. Each of these patients demonstrated erosive or desquamative disease on some combination of vulvar, vaginal, or gingival mucosal surfaces, but often, at a single point in time, only one or two of the three areas were involved. Clinical features supporting the diagnosis of lichen planus included the regular presence of a narrow white reticulated border at the periphery of the eroded vulvar lesions and the occasional presence of nonerosive lichen planus lesions elsewhere on the skin or mucous membranes. Biopsy specimens taken from the white reticulated border generally revealed the typical histology of lichen planus, whereas biopsy specimens taken from the central eroded surface more often showed only a nonspecific inflammatory reaction. Recognition of the vulvo-vaginal-gingival syndrome as part of the lichen planus spectrum will likely reduce the frequency of otherwise unclassifiable cases of vulvo-vaginal desquamative and erosive mucositis.