To verify the concordance between the clinical and histopathological diagnosis of OLP, we examined the clinical and histopathological findings and the potential presence of lichenoid lesions in patients presenting with OLP. We conducted a review of the histopathological findings in 60 patients who had been clinically diagnosed as having OLP. Based on this review, 50% of the cases had pathologically confirmed OLP (pOLP), 43% had pathologically suspected OLP (pOLPsus.), and the remaining 7% had other diseases. Cases of pOLPsus. were commonly associated with erosion or ulceration, but not definitely associated with the following characteristic features of OLP: sign of “liquefaction degeneration” in the basal cell layer; and Civatte body formation. Histopathological features of OLP did not correlate with metal allergy or underlying disease examined in the present study. These findings indicate that the pathological diagnosis of clinically diagnosed erosive OLP is difficult.
