ORAL LICHEN PLANUS .2. A HISTOLOGIC EVALUATION OF 97 CASES

The present study entails a histologic examination of biopsy specimens from ninety-seven patients with oral lichen planus. The histopathologic changes are described in the following clinical variations of oral lichen planus: papular, reticular, plaque, atrophic, ulcerative (erosive), and bullous types. Marked variations in the histologic appearance were seen. No pathologic change, apart from a chronic subepithelial inflammation, was found in all cases. The most constant findings were (1) hyperortho- or parakeratosis, (2) presence of a marked stratum granulosum, (3) liquefaction degeneration of the basal epithelial layer, and (4) a bandlike juxtaepithelial infiltrate dominated by lymphocytes. In contrast to the rare finding of parakeratosis in cutaneous lesions, the present study showed that 86 per cent of the cases demonstrated this feature. © 1968.