RESUMO
Lichen sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory mucocutaneous, disease which origin remains unknown. Its prevalence ranges from one in 300 to one in 1000 of all patients referred to a dermatology clinic in the seventeeth. Through the analysis of a hospital survey, we outline the epidemio-clinical aspects of this dermatosis. Over a 19-year period [1984-2002], we have conducted a retrospective and monocentric study of all patients with genital lichen sclerosis were examined at the dermatology department of Habib Thameur hospital. Thirty-four patients suffered from lichen sclerosis. There were 33 female and only one male [sex-ratio: 0.03]. All patients underwent topical corticosteroid therapy [level I, II or IV]. The recovery rate of lichen sc1erosus was about 20% [7/34]. An epidermoid carcinoma occurred in three patients. The frequency of lichen sc1erosus in our study is estimated at 1,8 new cases per year. This frequency is probably under-estimated because of some patients' reluctance to seek help. A relatively low recovery rate of genital lichen sclerosis was found in our study. This may be related to an inadequate follow up added to an insufficient treatment adherence