OBJECTIVETo retrospectively analyze oral lichen planus (OLP) patients and to summarize the clinical characteristic of OLP in Chinese patients.

METHODSA total of 724 patients with histologically and clinically confirmed OLP were collected from department of oral mucosa in School of Stomatology, Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University between 1978 and 2006.

RESULTSThe OLP patients were followed up from 1 month to 259 months (mean 21 months). Of the 724 patients, 68.23% were women and 31.77% were men. The buccal mucosa was the most common site of involvement in each form, followed by the dorsal tongue, ventral tongue, lip, gingiva, palate and the floor of mouth. The reticular form of the disease was the predominant type in 53.82% of patients at initial presentation. About 48.76% of the patients had multiple oral sites of involvement. Fifteen OLP lesions developed into carcinoma, the malignant transformation rate was 2.07%.

CONCLUSIONSBecause OLP has potential of malignant change, a long time and periodical follow-up is of great importance for detection of malignant lesions.