Oral lichen Planus: What home remedies or medications help you?

I belong to a LS support group on line and I don’t believe LS has been recognized as an autoimmune disease yet. We all who are inflected with this disease truly wish our disease would meet the criteria to be recognized and supported under our medical plans for treatment. It is not covered here in Canada. I paid over $2000 out of pocket for 3 treatments at Nova Womens Clinic and may have to have more treatments. Other countries like USA also are not covered under any medical plan. If you check the LS database, you will find a very large group of patients everywhere who are suffering from LS and with no coverage.

@twastarstream that’s true. Different treatments work for different people but it comes and goes. Just have to go back to the treatment that worked, when in a flare.

@lindajoan I don’t know which Province you live in (I am guessing Nova Scotia …?) but in case you are living in Ontario, any treatment by any specialist for lichen planus and lichen sclerosis is covered by OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan), and all oral lichen planus treatments by oral pathologists in hospital clinics are also covered. Some steroid treatments in a dermatologist’s office (e.g., Kenelog injection) were not covered, but all steroid treatments in the Dentistry and Dermatology Clinics at the hospital were covered.

I don’t believe we are covered here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I paid out of pocket for three laser treatments at Nova Womens Clinic. I heard previously from a patient in Ontario that she was covered under OHIP, Ontario Medical Plan but Doctors said no, that was not the case.

@lindajoan I live in Ontario and have received steroid injections at a dermatologist’s office for which I was not covered by OHIP and had to pay, and steroid injections/prescriptions at a hospital’s Dental Clinic where I was covered and did not pay. Seniors are covered for some drugs under the Ontario Drug Benefits Plan too.

@dreamer60 -- You mention successful treatment of OLP by a laser. Can you can which specific laser? There are several different types of lasers. I have had OLP for almost 10 years, been to numerous specialists. They all say "there is no cure," and hardly offer any treatment that works. Thank you.

From my experience, in Ontario treatments by a certified dermatologist for medically necessary purposes are covered. Treatments involving cosmetics however are not covered. Same thing in Quebec. Generally, in my experience in both provinces, any treatment for lichen sclerosis or lichen planus are considered as being medical and are free with a provincial health card for treatment in that province.

I believe it’s a similar problem that I have with my scalp where it is fungal. I’m not a doctor but I was wondering have you tried pulling coconut oil?

yes i would also like to know more about these laser treatments for OLP

@lindajoan OLP has definitely been identified as an auto-immune disease. It is covered in any good insurance plan in the USA.