CO laser vaporisation in treating oral lichen planus: A split-mouth randomised clinical trial.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of carbon dioxide (CO) laser vaporisation versus intralesional injection of triamcinolone acetonide (TA) in the management of oral lichen planus (OLP).

Methods: A randomised clinical trial with a split-mouth design was conducted on 16 patients with bilateral symptomatic OLP lesions. One side was treated with CO laser vaporisation, and the counterpart was treated with TA intralesional injection. The reticular-erythematous-ulcerative (REU) score, Thongprasom sign scoring (TSS), visual analogue scale (VAS) and lesion area were used to evaluate the lesions at weeks 0, 4 and 9. All participants were followed up for 9 months.

Results: Reduction in the REU, TSS scores and lesion area from baseline to the end of treatment was significantly greater in the CO group than in the TA group (p values were 0.001, 0.002 and 0.048 respectively). However, the reduction in VAS score did not differ between the two groups (p = 0.54). The recurrence rate was significantly higher in the TA group than in the CO group (75% vs. 31.1%; p = 0.016).

Conclusions: CO laser vaporisation was more effective than TA intralesional injection in managing OLP and decreased recurrence rates.