Psychological profile in oral lichen planus.

Aim: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is an oral lesion with an enigmatic etiology. To explore the possibility of psycho-somatization, we evaluated the psychological personality profiles of OLP patients.

Methods: Twenty patients with reticular; 20 with erosive form of OLP, and 25 controls were tested with the psychological Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-202 test. Eight clinical scales (hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, paranoia, psychasthenia, schizophrenia, and hypomania) as well as cortisol level, CD3, CD4, CD8, and CD16 markers by group were compared. Psychosomatization was evaluated by the use of internalization ratio (IR) Index.

Results: A characteristic MMPI profile was noted in the OLP groups with high IR index value. Significant differences among the groups were detected for cortisol, CD4, CD8, and CD16 counts. Mean values for hypochondriasis, depression, and hysteria were all significantly different with significantly higher mean scores for both reticular and erosive OLP subjects compared with controls.

Conclusions: Prolonged emotive stress in many OLP patients may lead to psychosomatization and may contribute to the initiation and clinical expression of this oral disorder.

Clinical Significance: If additional research involving a larger and more diverse sample of patients confirms these findings, clinical trials will be needed to determine whether adjunctive psychological intervention provides a benefit in treating patients with OLP.