Recent trends in management of oral lichen planus: a brief review

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a relatively common, chronic inflammatory condition and presumably autoimmune disease, which frequently present with burning sensation. Lichen planus is a mucocutaneous disease that occurs in about 0.02 to 4% of general population affecting skin and mucosa. The lesion has a chronic clinical course with periods of exacerbation and remission with reports of lesions for up to 20 years. Although various etiological agents are proposed, the exact etiology & treatment is unknown. Only symptomatic OLP requires treatment and efforts were made in a continued searching for novel therapies for symptomatic OLP.A wide range of treatment modalities from allopathic to ayurvedic have been proposed for OLP but none have proved curative or permanent reduction of the disease. Current article reviews about the various recent trends in the management of OLP.