Clinical analysis of 129 cases of vulvar lichen sclerosus / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate clinical features of vulvar lichen sclerosus (VLS).Methods Clinical data were collected from patients with VLS in Department of Dermatology of Beijing Hospital,and analyzed retrospectively with respect to age,duration of disease,medical history,complications,clinical symptoms and signs,and features of skin lesions.Results A total of 129 patients with VLS were enrolled into this study from March 2016 to February 2017.The age of onset in these patients presented a normal distribution,with the highest frequency at the age range of 25-30 years.Of the 129 patients,only 18 (14％) developed VLS after menopause,and 12 (9.3％) were complica1ed by autoimmune diseases,especially thyroid diseases.Pruritus was reported as the main symptom in 122 (94.6％) of the 129 patients,and 51 (60％) reported that their sexual life had been affected.Labia minora was the most commonly involved site in 92 (71.3％)patients,but unilateral labia majus was rarely involved.The most common skin lesion was hypopigmentation (92.2％,119/129),followed by lichenification (55.0％,71/129) and skin atrophy (40.3％,52/129).Patients with skin atrophy had significantly longer duration of disease than those without skin atrophy (Z =3.124,P =0.002),and the incidence of skin atrophy was lower in the patients who had been treated with topical glucocorticoids or calcineurin inhibitors than those who had not received these treatment (x2 =5.074,P =0.024).Conclusions VLS is more common in women of childbearing age than in postmenopausal women,and basically characterized by pruritus and hypopigmentation.VLS commonly involves bilateral labia minora,and usually affects sexual life.