Lichen Planus in the Site of a Previous Zoster Eruption

Zosteriform Lichen planus

“…The lines do not correspond to any known nervous, vascular or lymphatic structures and differ clearly from the pattern of innervation of the spinal cutaneous nerves 16], However, the cases of peculiarly distributed lichen planus reported by several authors [9][10][11][12][13], as well as our patient, did not show a pattern fol lowing the lines of Blaschko, thus excluding genetic factors.…”

Cutaneous reactions at sites of herpes zoster scars: an expanded spectrum

“…Several types of cutaneous lesions have been described developing within resolved cutaneous herpes zoster lesions. These include comedones, 1 xanthomatous changes, 2 granuloma annulare, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] sarcoidal granulomas, 12,13 tuberculoid granulomas, 14,15 granulomatous vasculitis, 16,17 unclassified granulomatous dermatitis, [18][19][20][21] tinea, 22 acneiform eruption, 23 furunculosis, 24 contact dermatitis, 24 nodular solar degeneration, 25 pseudolymphoma, [26][27][28] psoriasis, 29,30 lichen planus, [31][32][33] morphoea, 34 lichenoid chronic graftversus-host disease, 35 eosinophilic dermatosis, 36 acquired reactive perforating collagenosis, 37 lymphoma, 38,39 leukaemia, [40][41][42][43][44] Kaposi's sarcoma, 45 angiosarcoma, 46 basal cell carcinoma,…”

“…These cutaneous lesions may appear immediately in resolving vesicular lesions or at varying times after the acute eruption. The pathogenesis of the cutaneous reactions following resolved lesions of herpes zoster remains to be elucidated, and in the literature, type III or type IV hypersensitivity reactions 4,14 and Koebner's phenomenon 3,4,12,[31][32][33]45 have been proposed as provoking factors. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique has been used to investigate the presence of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) DNA within these cutaneous reactions.…”

Reply to the Letter by Happle

“…Compared to this disease, cases of true zosteriform lichen planus are extremely rare, and only such exceptional cases may be explained as a KÎbner phenomenon induced by a preceding zoster eruption (6).…”