Oral hairy leukoplakia in a child: confirmation of the clinical diagnosis by ultrastructural examination of exfoliative cytologic specimens

Abstract

We report on a 12-year-old girl infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who developed oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL). This is the fifth child with OHL whose case has been described so far. The clinical diagnosis was confirmed by ultrastructural documentation of a herpes-type virus in the lesional scraping specimen. Exfoliative material was obtained by a painless and noninvasive procedure. We conclude that ultrastructural examination of lingual exfoliative cytological specimens from clinically suspected OHL is a noninvasive and painless method for confirming the clinical diagnosis of OHL.