Leukoplakia: Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

Leukoplakia: Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

Define, and describe clinical features and principles of treatment of leukoplakia.

Answer. Leukoplakia is defined as a white patch or plaque that cannot be characterized clinically or pathologically as any other disease and is not associated with any physical or chemical causative agent except tobacco use.

First International Conference on oral leukoplakia Malmo, Sweden (1984) or Modified WHO

“Symptoms Of Leukoplakia In Mouth”

Leukoplakia Definition (1984)

Leukoplakia Clinical Features

• Usually the lesion occurs in 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th decades of life.
• Buccal mucosa and commissural areas are most frequent affcted sites followed by alveolar ridge, tongue, lip, hard and soft palate, etc.
• Oral leukoplakia often present solitary or multiple white patches.

“Understanding The Causes Of Leukoplakia”

• The size of lesion may vary from small well-localized patch measuring few millimeters in diameter.
• The surface of lesion may be smooth or fiely wrinkled or even rough on palpation and lesion cannot be removed by scrapping.
• The lesion is whitish or grayish or in some cases it is brownish yellow in color due to heavy use of tobacco.
• In most of the cases these lesion are asymptomatic, how-ever in some cases they may cause pain, feeling ofthickness and burning sensation, etc.

“Best Ways To Prevent Leukoplakia”

Leukoplakia Principles Of Treatment

• Take thorough history and do proper clinical examination.
• Remove the causative factor
• Excisional or incisional biopsy should be done.

“Can Leukoplakia Turn Into Cancer”

• Manage the lesion by oral medication or by eliminating the lesion
• Long-term follow-up should be done at every 3 months interval.
• At each review, submandibular and cervical lymph nodes should be checked for signs of metastasis.