Statement of Problem: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disorder which can specially be painful in atrophic, erosive and ulcerative forms. In this area, different treatment plans with different results have been evaluated
Purpose: The aim of this article is to compare the effect of aloe vera gel and local triamcinolone in treatment of oral lichen planus lesions.
Materials and Method: In this double blind research, 50 patients (13 males and 37 females) having oral lichen planus lesions were selected and randomly divided into two groups. The first group received 70% aloe vera gel and the second group, 0.1% local triamcinolone. Both groups used the drug locally 3 times a day for 8 weeks. All the patients were under follow up every 2 weeks. Clinical evaluation and pain reduction was evaluated by Thongprasom and VAS methods in both groups. Data were evaluated by repeated measure technique.
Results: 20 patients of the triamcinolone group showed good response to treatment and 3 patients had complete remission during the treatment period. In aloe vera group, 9 patients had good response and no one showed complete remission ( p <0.001). No significant lesion was seen in both groups during the treatment period
Conclusion: Application of aloe vera gel is suggested in treatment of erosive and atrophic lichen planus lesions in comparison with steroids. However, according to the results of this study, the use of steroid instead of aloe vera in treating ulcerative lichen planus lesions is a better and more appropriate choice.