Analysis of Treatment Response in Patients with Oral Lichen Planus

Purpose: To evaluate compliance by analyzing and comparing treatment duration, degree of improvement after treatment and treatment response of oral lichen planus (OLP) patients according to characteristics of them and the severity of the lesion. Methods: According to treatment process, 132 subjects with OLP who first visited the Department of Oral Medicine at the Pusan National University Dental Hospital from January 2017 to December 2020were classified into three groups: Treatment completed (CT) group, Under treatment (UT) group, and Dropped out during follow-up (DT) group. The reticulation/keratosis, erythema, and ulceration (REU) scoring system was used to assess the severity of OLP. The degree of improvement after treatment was evaluated in CT group. Results: There were 53 (40.15%) CT, 27 (20.45%) UT and 52 (39.39%) DT. In CT group, according to initial REU score there was a statistical difference in the degree of improvement, but not in the length of time to complete treatment. There was no statistical difference between the days it took for patients to feel symptom relief, and the days of entire treatment among three groups. However, there was a positive correlation between the REU score of gingiva and duration of treatment in DT group. In the CT and DT groups, there was a correlation between the length of time taken to relieve symptoms and the duration of treatment. Conclusions: The severity of the gingival lesion and the initial response to treatment have a large effect on the entire treatment period and prognosis, so it should be considered when explaining the disease prognosis and treatment period to patients, and the clinician needs to focus on initial symptom relief.