The Effect of Oral Curcumin on Pain and Clinical Appearance of Oral Lichen Planus

Introduction: Lichen planus is an inflammatory mucocutaneous disease that its etiology is still unknown. Various treatments are used to mitigate the pain, inflammation, and duration of lesions. Due to the lack of a definitive treatment and the side effects of current treatments, many efforts still have been making to find new treatments. As curcumin has been shown to have anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimicrobial, and anti-tumor properties, this study was designed to study the effect of oral curcumin in treating oral lichen planus. Materials and methods: Ten patients with oral atrophic, erosive lichen planus participated in a pilot clinical trial intervention study. The patients were treated with 3 strips of Sina Curcumin capsules 80 mg, one capsule every day after breakfast for 4 weeks. The clinical appearance of lesions (based on the Thongprasom score) and pain severity (based on the Visual Analogue Score) were recorded before treatment and at the end of the first, second, and fourth weeks of the intervention. Results: Using repeated measures analyses of variance, there were statistically significant differences in pain intensity (P = 0.043) and clinical appearance of oral lesions (P = 0.001) in patients treated with curcumin before and after treatment. At the end of the treatment period, pain was reduced in 50% of the patients and full recovery was observed in 20% of the patients. Clinical appearance of oral lesions indicated recovery in 20% of the patients. Conclusion: Using a nanomicell formulation of oral curcumin could be considered as an alternative treatment for oral lichen planus. This drug is safe and has few side effects. However, it needs further studies with larger sample sizes and follow up periods.