Lichen Sclerosus and Borrelia burgdorferi: Are We Missing the Link?

Focus-floating microscopy may be useful for establishing the role of Borrelia burgdorferi in LS.

Lichen sclerosus (LS), a chronic inflammatory skin disease that mainly affects the anogenital region, shares certain histologic and clinical features with acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (a chronic form of borreliosis). This observation led researchers to propose Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (BB), the spirochete that causes human Lyme borreliosis, as a potential etiologic factor in LS. The present authors looked for BB in tissue sections using focus-floating microscopy (FFM), a new immunohistochemical method that simultaneously scans two planes (horizontal and vertical).

The authors retrieved samples from 61 cases of LS and 118 control samples (60 negative for and 68 positive for BB). Tissue sections were stained with a polyclonal BB …

Reviewing Author

Angelica Selim, MD

Disclosures

Grant / Research support NIH/NCI, The Plastic Surgery Foundation

Angelica Selim, MD

Disclosures

Grant / Research support NIH/NCI, The Plastic Surgery Foundation

Lichen Sclerosus and Borrelia burgdorferi: Are We Missing the Link?

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Reviewing Author