[Treatment of generalized cutaneous lichen planus with dipropionate and betamethasone disodium phosphate: an open study of 73 cases]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of treatment of generalized cutaneous lichen planus using dipropionate and betamethasone disodium phosphate.A prospective study was conducted among patients presenting generalized cutaneous lichen planus consulting a dermatology service of Lomé teaching hospital in Togo (September 2003 to August 2005). Each patient included in our study reveived three injections of dipropionate and betamethasone disodium phosphate every 2 weeks. Evaluation was done at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months.73 cases of generalized cutaneous lichen planus were included in our study. The sex-ratio (H/F) was 0.7. The average age of patients was 29.5 +/- 11.9 years. At six weeks: complete remission was 83.6% (61 cases) and partial remission was 8.2% with a failure rate of 8.2%. At 3 months, persistent complete remission was 58.9% vs. 23.3% relapse. At 6 months, relapse was 31.5%. No major side-effects were reported among our patients during the study period.The study results suggest that dipropionate and betamethasone disodium phosphate may constitute an alternative therapeutic approach in generalized cutaneous lichen planus. However these results require confirmation by a randomized trial over a longer period.