Why should I follow up my patients with oral lichen planus and lichenoid reactions?

Potentially malignant disorders revisited—The lichenoid lesion/proliferative verrucous leukoplakia conundrum

“…9,15 It has not been common practice to continuously follow-up patients with OLL, although some authors now recommend this practice in specialist clinics to monitor for early cancerous change. 7,8,14 The findings of this study certainly support this approach.…”

“…Whilst the prognostic significance of OLL has been debated for many years and is still controversial, there is increasing recognition in clinical practice that isolated OLL, especially those arising on the tongue, should be considered at high risk of MT and treated by interventional surgery . Ultimately, patients with OLL in this study were less likely to be DF post‐treatment than those in the overall PMD cohort (69.5% vs 74.2%, respectively).…”

Bridging the gap: An insight into dentistry

“…Erosive lichen planus has a similar autoimmune aetiology to lichen planus however, here it presents as a painful lesion which is characterised by red patches. (8,11) Contact hypersensitivity reactions are allergic reactions to materials used in dentistry such as amalgam, latex and anaesthetics. (12) The location of the erythematous patch usually corresponds to the site of exposure.…”

Clinical characteristics of lichen and dysplasia vs lichen planus cases and dysplasia cases

“…This distribution reflects the patient distribution in oral medicine clinics in which lichen-related diseases are the most common disease. It is commonly recommended that these patients be closely monitored, due to the potential for malignant transformation, which means a life-long follow-up (Greaney et al, 2014;van der Waal, 2014). The potential for malignant transformation of LP and LR lesions is controversial Cleach and Chosidow, 2012;Greaney et al, 2014), although some think that it might represent a true transformation of a lichenoid lesion.…”

“…It is commonly recommended that these patients be closely monitored, due to the potential for malignant transformation, which means a life-long follow-up (Greaney et al, 2014;van der Waal, 2014). The potential for malignant transformation of LP and LR lesions is controversial Cleach and Chosidow, 2012;Greaney et al, 2014), although some think that it might represent a true transformation of a lichenoid lesion. In that case, a lesion with lichenoid features and dysplasia could be showing the beginnings of carcinogenesis and therefore every lesion, LP or LR, could be at risk.…”