Lichen sclerosus et atrophicus in children.

The occurrence of lichen sclerosus et atrophicus in children has not been well recognized generally, probably because it typically occurs postmenopausally in women. We have recently observed this disease in several children but have been unable to find any description of it in standard American pediatric textbooks or any detailed survey on this subject in the literature. A survey of the available literature revealed 260 acceptable cases of lichen sclerosus et atrophicus among 178 reports. Of this total, the age at onset was 13 years or older in 225 patients and was under 13 years in the other 35 patients.1-18Such incidence by age compares favorably with the observations of Kindler,13who found 8 cases in children among a total of 54 reported in the literature during the period 1940 to 1952. These figures are probably deceptively high, however, because cases occurring in children