Childhood oral lichen planus: a case series with review of literature.

backgroundOral Lichen Planus (OLP) is a chronic autoimmune mucocutaneous condition, the exact etiology of which is still unknown. It is known to occur chiefly in adults and has a reported prevalence of 0.5-2% in general population and < 2-3% of total in pediatric population. OLP is considered as Oral Potentially Malignant Disorder with a malignant transformation rate of 1-2% in adults. Its occurrence in children is a rare finding with few cases reported in the literature. As a result, it gets misdiagnosed by the general practitioner and hence, there is a need to consider OLP in differential diagnosis of white lesions of oral cavity even in children. Therefore, in this paper, we present six cases of childhood OLP along with their management and follow-up. CASE SERIES: We present here six patients aged between 11 and 13 years who presented either as incidental finding or as symptomatic lesions and were diagnosed with OLP. Symptomatic patients were treated with topical steroid ointment and both the symptomatic and asymptomatic patients were followed-up. We have also presented literature review of childhood OLP reported in PubMed, Medline and google scholar from 1980 till December 2020.

conclusionOLP is unusual in children and is often left untreated due to low awareness among the patients. Can be often misdiagnosed and should be considered in differential diagnosis of any white lesion of oral cavity. Any such lesions must be correctly diagnosed in time to institute appropriate management and follow-up.