Dr. Debasis Maity

Consultant Uro-Surgeon

Lichen Sclerosus

Remember:

  • Lichen sclerosus (LS) is the preferred term for what was previously known as balanitis xerotica obliterans (BXO).
  • Lichen sclerosus is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the skin of uknown origin. The glans penis and foreskin are usually affected.
  • LS is a scarring disorder characterized by tissue pallor, loss of architecture and hyperkeratosis.
  • Incidence of LS in the western population is 1 in 300.
  • LS is 6 to 10 times more prevalent in women than in men, generally presenting around the time of menopause.
  • In men, LS seems to peak between the ages of 30 to 50; but it may occur in all ages; from infants to the elderly.
  • LS is commonly found at the time of circumcision when performed beyond the neonatal period.
  • LS is the most common cause of meatal stenosis, appears as a whitish plaque that may involve the prepuce, glans penis, urethral meatus and fossa navicularis. If only the foreskin is involved, circumcision may be curative.
  • LS usually begins as a meatal or perimeatal process in the circumcised patient but it may involve other areas of the preputial space in the uncircumcised patient.
  • In uncircumcised men, the prepuce becomes edematous and thickened, and often may be adherent to the glans.
  • The peak ages of recognition in women are bimodal, with many cases noted before puberty but with another peak presenting in postmenopausal women.
  • BXO= m/c cause of strictures of fossa navicularis and penile urethra, starts at glans and preputial skin, causing meatal stenosis and/or phimosis.
  • Urethral stricture occur due to inflammation or infection of the periurethral glands of Litter (“Littritis”) secondary to high pressure voiding related to meatal stenosis & perhaps microabscesses and deep spongiofibrosis.
  • Panurethral stricture can also occur in BXO.

Etiology:

No specific mechanism has been elucidated, possibilities are:

  • Autoimmune disease
  • Reactive oxidative stress contributed to the sclerotic, immunologic and carcinogenic process in LS.
  • Infections (chronic infection by a spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi).
  • Koebner phenomenon relates the development of LS to trauma to an affected area.
  • Genetic origin, based on the observation of a familial distribution of cases.
  • Concomitant existence of the disease in identical twins.
Lichen Sclerosus 1Lichen Sclerosus 2
BXO changes involving glans and prepuce. (Bagnan, Howrah)BXO changes involving glans and prepuce. (Berhampur, Murshidabad)
Lichen Sclerosus 3Lichen Sclerosus 4
BXO changes with phimosis (Bolpur, Birbhum)BXO changes with meatal stenosis (Tamluk, Midnapur)

Diagnosis:

  • Diagnosis is made through biopsy.
  • LS has specific histologic features, including-
    • Basal cell vacuolation
    • Epidermal atrophy
    • Dermal edema
    • Collagen homogenization
    • Focal perivascular infiltrate of the papillary dermis
    • Plugging of the ostia of follicular and eccrine structures

Management:

  • The combination of topical steroids and antibiotics may help stabilize the inflammatory process.
  • Conservative therapy may be warranted in patients whose meatus can easily be maintained at 14 to 16 French.
    • In these cases, intermittent catheterization with lubrication of the catheter
    • and meatal dilator with 0.05% clobetasol (brand name Temovate) for 3 months may be adequate treatment.
  • Long-term antibiotic (Tetracycline, erythromycin, penicillin) therapy may also be helpful to improve the inflammation, because secondary infection of the inflamed tissue may occur.
  • A recent European, multicenter, phase II trial also supported the safety and efficacy of topical tacrolimus in the treatment of long standing LS.
  • In young patients with severe meatal stenosis, surgery is indicated. Because patients with long-standing meatal stenosis often have severe proximal urethral stricture disease, retrograde urethrography should be performed before the initiation of therapy.
  • Long-standing cases with a long length of urethral stricture are amenable to techniques of reconstruction but are very challenging.
  • It is becoming clear that except in the case of urethral stricture disease confined only to the meatus and fossa navicularis, staged oral graft (buccal mucosal graft-BMG) reconstruction, at least in the short to mid term, seems to provide superior durable results.
  • In some patients with severe urethral stricture disease, ideal treatment is perineal urethrostomy.