Lichenoid dermatosis. A clinical and histopathological study

OBJECTIVE: A distinctive skin problem has been observed for the last 10 years that appeared on the neck of a young adult. This encouraged us to conduct this study, to evaluate its clinical and histopathological picture.

METHODS: Thirty patients were studied in the Department of Dermatology, Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Iraq during a one-year period from November 1998 through to November 1999. There were 29 males and a female, their ages ranged from 11-50 years (mean 25 years). Patients complained of rash on the back and sides of the neck, they were fully interrogated and examined and skin biopsy was carried out in 10 patients.

RESULTS: The study showed that this disease has well defined clinical pictures, which affect young males mainly and appeared in summer time. The rash was located mostly on the back of the neck; it had dark-red to red-violeceous, rounded to oval, single or multiple plaques. The rash was mainly asymptomatic a part from appearance. The histopathological picture has many similarities with that of lichen planus actinicus, but with striking increased vascularity of the dermis.

CONCLUSION: From the clinical and histopathological study, this skin problem deserve its own name lichenoid dermatosis, which was induced by solar radiation and has many similarities with lichen planus actinicus and could be confused with lichen simplex chronicus.