Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of treatment of generalized cutaneous lichen planus using dipropionate and betamethasone disodium phosphate.
Patients and method: 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.
Results: 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.
Discussion: 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.