Lichen striatus: clinical features and follow-up in 12 patients.

Lichen striatus (LS) is an uncommon disease of unknown origin characterised by a linear inflammatory papular eruption with spontaneous regression. We here review a series of 12 consecutive cases of LS. Diagnosis was supported by histological examination. Ten of our 12 patients were children aged 6 months to 12 years. The male gender predominated by 9:3. The lower limb was involved more often than the upper limb and trunk. The duration of the disease until regression ranged from 4 months to 4 years (median, 12 months). Postinflammatory hypopigmentation was noted in 5, and hyperpigmentation in 4 patients. Two patients showed nail involvement (onychodystrophy, longitudinal ridging) which appeared simultaneously with the skin lesions and resolved completely. A personal history of atopic disorders was found in 7 of 12 patients. From this series we can confirm that LS mainly affects children. Both skin and nail lesions disappear completely even if they last longer than one year. Compared with other studies, our series showed differences with regard to sex ratio, predilection sites and after effects.