Evaluation of Serum Zinc Level in Erosive, Atrophic Oral Lichen Planus and Healthy Individuals

Lichen planus is a chronic inflammatory disease with an immunological base involving mucosal skin. However, the etiology and pathogenesis of this disease are still unknown. Zinc is one of the most essential elements needed by the body that acts as a cell membrane stabilizer and is necessary for boosting the immune system. Due to very limited studies with conflicting results, the present study was performed to compare serum zinc levels in patients having erosive and atrophic oral lichen planus with healthy individuals.

This case-control study was conducted on two groups (n=20 each), including patients with erosive and atrophic oral lichen planus and healthy volunteer subjects being similar in age and gender to the case group. After selecting patients based on the criteria for admission and obtaining informed consent from the candidates, individuals were referred to the Blood Transfusion Organization for the evaluation of zinc levels in the blood. The test results were then examined and delivered to the patient. Mann-Whitney test was used to analyze the data.

The mean age scores of the participants in the case and control groups were obtained as 46.7±16.9 and 41.5±10.1 years, respectively, which was not statistically significant (P=0.056). In the case and control groups, 6 and 5 individuals were men, respectively, and the rest participants were women in both groups. The mean serum zinc levels were estimated at 84.21±19.6 and 76.9±20.8 µg/dl in the case and control groups, respectively, which did not show a statistically significant difference with the Mann-Whitney test (P=0.2).

Despite lower serum zinc levels in patients with erosive and atrophic oral lichen planus, this element was still within normal limits and appeared not to play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease.