CYCLOSPORINE-A IN AN ADHESIVE BASE FOR TREATMENT OF RECALCITRANT ORALLICHEN-PLANUS - AN OPEN TRIAL

Patients with symptomatic oral lichenm planus often require therapy to reduce signs and symptoms of the condition. For this purpose, cortico steriods are frequently used. In this study the effect of another immu nosuppressive drug, cyclosporin A was evaluated; it was applied as a t opical drug four times daily and contained 0.025% cyclosporin A. The s tudy group was composed of nine symptomatic patients in whom the diagn osis of oral lichen planus was confirmed by histopathologic examinatio n including immunofluorescence. All patients had unsuccessfully underg one previous treatment with topical or systemic corticosteroids. The m inimum follow-up period in the present study was at least 4 months. Fo ur patients showed partial response to treatment with respect to signs and symptoms. None of the patients had a complete remission. Five pat ients showed no response or even complained of an increase of signs an d symptoms. No adverse side effects of the drug were recorded during f ollow-up. Although the number of patients has been small, the results of this study indicate that topical application of cyclosporin A (0.02 5%) in the treatment of recalcitrant oral lichen planus does not offer a distinct advantage over the use of topical corticosteroids.