Case History/Examination
We report the case of a 36-year-old healthy patient, with no history of alcohol or tobacco consumption, married and a housewife. She originated from North Africa and came two years earlier to France with her husband. At the time of medical check consultation, the patient was a primiparous pregnant woman with 32 weeks of amenorrhea. She consulted the dentistry emergency department of Montreuil hospital in July 2012 for “discomfort on the tongue and pain in the last two months”. The patient noticed the appearance of “white spots” on her tongue for several months, following the development of “a mass” associated with pain and discomfort.
Palpation of the cervical lymph-node zone reveals submandibular and right cervical lymphadenopathy. Intraoral examination showed an ulcerative lesion around 2cm-wide, with everted irregular borders (Figure 1A). The lesion was located at the middle third of the tongue, on the right lateral border. Palpation revealed bleeding on contact and sublesional induration. The examination of the whole oral mucosa surface showed the presence of reticulated lichen planus on the inner surface of the cheek and on the lateral edges of the tongue with streaks in white to opaline networks (Figure 1B and 1C)