Introduction:

Pigment lichen planus is an autoimmune lesion of unknown etiology, with preference for middle-aged women, which mainly affects the face and neck, being rare in the oral cavity.

Objective:

To report a case of pigment lichen planus in the oral cavity, with emphasis on its clinical and histopathological characteristics.

Case report:

21 years old woman, black, who came to the service complaining about a spot in the oral cavity. The lesions presented a month of evolution, radial growth and no painful symptoms. They consisted of blackened plates of regular contour with whitish stretch marks on their periphery, rounded shape, sharp edges, on bilateral jugular mucosa, which measured approximately 13 mm on the left side and 25 mm on the right. After the incisional biopsy and histopathological analysis, the suspicion of oral pigment lichen planus was confirmed. The proposed treatment for the lesions was conservative through strict clinical follow-up.

Conclusion:

The importance and difficulty of the diagnosis of pigment lichen planus is emphasized, especially due to its low occurrence in the oral cavity and its atypical clinical characteristics and similar to other oral lesions. In this context, the relevance of the histopathological examination is ratified and the need for further studies to clarify the etiological factors involved in this pathology is highlighted.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )