Childhood vulvar lichen sclerosus. The course after puberty.

OBJECTIVE: To identify girls with vulvar lichen sclerosus (LS) and to follow them through puberty, documenting the course of the disease. STUDY DESIGN: Twenty-one postpubertal girls were identified from a cohort of 75 girls with LS presenting prepubertally and attending a pediatric vulvar clinic. D...

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Main Authors: Powell, J, Wojnarowska, F
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2002
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author Powell, J
Wojnarowska, F
author_facet Powell, J
Wojnarowska, F
author_sort Powell, J
collection OXFORD
description OBJECTIVE: To identify girls with vulvar lichen sclerosus (LS) and to follow them through puberty, documenting the course of the disease. STUDY DESIGN: Twenty-one postpubertal girls were identified from a cohort of 75 girls with LS presenting prepubertally and attending a pediatric vulvar clinic. Details of current symptoms, findings on examination and treatment needs were recorded. A database of 263 women with LS was reviewed for onset of LS premenarche. RESULTS: Of the 21 postpubertal girls, 16 reported an improvement in symptoms, but 11 stated that they still experienced occasional pruritus, requiring intermittent topical steroid application. Although the disorder appeared less active in most cases, definite physical signs persisted in 16 patients (75%); in 5 patients no physical signs of the disease remained. Of 251 postmenopausal women with LS, < 5 could recall symptoms in childhood. Of 12 young adult premenopausal patients with vulvar LS, 4 could recall symptoms in childhood. One of these, a 32-year-old with well-documented LS in childhood resolving at puberty, presented with and died of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). CONCLUSION: Patients should be aware that LS may improve symptomatically but usually does not entirely resolve at puberty and that the disease in women may be associated with development of vulvar SCC. Ideally, long-term follow-up should be the standard of care.
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spelling oxford-uuid:0f410bf0-c4e6-4174-8e98-8fe8d22e7f382022-03-26T09:50:13ZChildhood vulvar lichen sclerosus. The course after puberty.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0f410bf0-c4e6-4174-8e98-8fe8d22e7f38EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2002Powell, JWojnarowska, F OBJECTIVE: To identify girls with vulvar lichen sclerosus (LS) and to follow them through puberty, documenting the course of the disease. STUDY DESIGN: Twenty-one postpubertal girls were identified from a cohort of 75 girls with LS presenting prepubertally and attending a pediatric vulvar clinic. Details of current symptoms, findings on examination and treatment needs were recorded. A database of 263 women with LS was reviewed for onset of LS premenarche. RESULTS: Of the 21 postpubertal girls, 16 reported an improvement in symptoms, but 11 stated that they still experienced occasional pruritus, requiring intermittent topical steroid application. Although the disorder appeared less active in most cases, definite physical signs persisted in 16 patients (75%); in 5 patients no physical signs of the disease remained. Of 251 postmenopausal women with LS, < 5 could recall symptoms in childhood. Of 12 young adult premenopausal patients with vulvar LS, 4 could recall symptoms in childhood. One of these, a 32-year-old with well-documented LS in childhood resolving at puberty, presented with and died of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). CONCLUSION: Patients should be aware that LS may improve symptomatically but usually does not entirely resolve at puberty and that the disease in women may be associated with development of vulvar SCC. Ideally, long-term follow-up should be the standard of care.
spellingShingle Powell, J
Wojnarowska, F
Childhood vulvar lichen sclerosus. The course after puberty.
title Childhood vulvar lichen sclerosus. The course after puberty.
title_full Childhood vulvar lichen sclerosus. The course after puberty.
title_fullStr Childhood vulvar lichen sclerosus. The course after puberty.
title_full_unstemmed Childhood vulvar lichen sclerosus. The course after puberty.
title_short Childhood vulvar lichen sclerosus. The course after puberty.
title_sort childhood vulvar lichen sclerosus the course after puberty
work_keys_str_mv AT powellj childhoodvulvarlichensclerosusthecourseafterpuberty
AT wojnarowskaf childhoodvulvarlichensclerosusthecourseafterpuberty