Clinical analysis of vulvar lichen simplex chronicus / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate clinical features of vulvar lichen simplex chronicus (VLSC).Methods Clinical data were collected from 137 VLSC patients who visited a Vulvar Clinic in the Department of Dermatology,Beijing Hospital from 2017 to 2018,and analyzed retrospectively.Non-normally distributed measurement data (age and disease duration) were described as median (P25,P75),and analyzed by using rank sum test,and enumeration data were compared by using chi-square test.Results Among the 137 patients with VLSC,the age at onset was 32.0 (25.5,40.0) years,and the disease duration was 36.0 (15.0,72.0) months.Thirty-two (23.4％) patients had a history of atopic diseases,and the age at onset of VLSC was significantly lower in these patients with a history of atopic diseases (29.5 [25.0,35.8]years) than in those without a history of atopic diseases (33.0 [27.0,41.0] years,Z =2.03,P =0.042).The most frequently involved site was the labia majora (130/137,94.9％),and the labia minora was rarely involved (13/137,9.5％).Bilateral lesions were observed in 103 (75.2％) patients,and hypopigmentation occurred in 8 (5.8％) patients.All the patients experienced itching to different extents,including moderate itching in 44 (32.1％) cases and severe itching in 80 (58.4％).The ratio of patients with severe itching to those with disease duration ＞ 2 years (68.1％) was significantly higher than that of patients with severe itching to those with disease duration ＜ 2 years (47.7％,x2 =5.830,P =0.016).Patients reported that local wetness and sweating (55 cases,40.1％),spicy diet (41 cases,29.9％) and mental stress (36 cases,26.3％) could aggravate itching,Conclusions VLSC commonly occurs in patients aged 20-39 years,and atopic predisposition may be an important factor for VLSC.VLSC mostly involves bilateral labia majora,and the longer the disease duration,the more severe the itching.