Leukoedema of the Oral Mucosa / 대한피부과학회지

Leukoedema is a white or whitish-gray edematous lesion of the buccal and labial oral mucosa. Leukoedema is relatively frequent in Negro people, but it is rare in Koreans. A 14-year-old Korean woman presented with a 2-year-history of asymptomatic whitish-gray plaques on both the buccal and labial mucosae. The histopathological examination revealed acanthosis and intracellular edema without atypical cells. Herein we report on a rare case of leukoedema of the oral mucosa in a Korean woman.

Leukoedema of the Oral Mucosa

Leukoedema of the oral mucosa is a whitish or whitish-gray edematous lesion of the buccal and labial oral mucosa. The condition is seen most frequently among black people, and has not yet been reported in the Korean dermatologic literature. We report a 28-year-old Korean woman affected by leukoedema of the oral mucosa. She presented with a 3 year history of white plaques on both buccal mucosae. The diagnosis was clinically based on the presence of white plaques on both buccal mucosae which disappeared when the lesion was stretched, and histologically based on the acanthosis and intracellular edema.

Leukoedema of the Tongue in a Renal Failure Patient

A 20-year-old man with chronic renal failure had a whitish smooth plaque on his tongue. Due to his long standing illness, he had poor oral hygiene. Histopathologic examination showed marked epithelial thickening with parakeratosis and intracellular edema in the prickle cell layer. PAS staining revealed increased amounts of PAS-positive materials in the pale epithelial cells. His tongue lesion persisted during his hospital course.