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Review
. 2022 May;31(5):689-699.
doi: 10.1111/exd.14561. Epub 2022 Mar 16.

Autologous lipoaspirate as a new treatment of vulvar lichen sclerosus: A review on literature

Nanouk van der Sluis  1   2 , Esther C A H Scheers  3 , Guido Krenning  4 , Berend van der Lei  1 , Maaike H M Oonk  3 , Joris A van Dongen  5
Affiliations
Review

Autologous lipoaspirate as a new treatment of vulvar lichen sclerosus: A review on literature

Nanouk van der Sluis et al. Exp Dermatol. 2022 May.

Abstract

Lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic inflammatory dermatosis that mostly affects the genital and anal skin areas. Symptoms may vary from pruritis and pain to sexual dysfunction; however, LS can also be asymptomatic. LS occurs at all ages and in both sexes. Approximately 5% of all women affected by vulvar LS will develop vulvar squamous cell carcinoma. Topical treatment is safe but less effective resulting in chronic course in most patients, who suffer from persistent itching and pain. In severe cases of therapy-resistant LS, there is no adequate treatment. Fat grafting is a novel regenerative therapy to reduce dermal fibrosis. The therapeutic effect of adipose tissue grafts for LS is already investigated in various pioneering studies. This review provides an overview of these studies and the putative mechanisms-of-action of fat grafting to treat LS.

Keywords: ageing; dermal; fibrosis; lichen sclerosus; lipoaspirate; regeneration; stem cells; stromal vascular fraction; vulvar.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Mechanisms‐of‐action of an ASC; including immunomodulatory, pro‐angiogenic and anti‐fibrotic effects and the corresponding growth factors and cytokines.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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