Lower Extremity Venous Ablation as a Treatment Modality for Refractory Lichen Simplex Chronicus and Generalized Pruritus

Robert Wills DO, James Kleist, Hossein Akhondi* and Sassan Kaveh

Introduction: Lichen simplex chronicus (LSC) is a skin condition characterized by thick, leathery, scaly and extremely itchy patches of skin. It is a common pathology (up to 12% of population) with signifi cant effect on quality of life without any established clear etiology or treatment. Chronic venous insuffi ciency (CVI) is a progressive disease of the legs that occurs when the delicate bicuspid valves in the veins become weakened and develop refl ux. CVI has been associated with many complications including local or generalized pruritus that may lead to intractable itch-scratch cycle,leading to LSC lesions on various parts of the body.

Cases: Recent development of multiple in-offi ce ablation techniques for treatment of CVI have ledto the added benefi t of resolving the itch-scratch cycle, which in turn become the cure for LSC lesions. We present 6 cases with typical refractory LSC lesions whom we were able to cure after treatment of CVI using Radiofrequency ablation or Clarivein techniques.

Conclusion: We recommend all primary care physicians and dermatologists to consider an underlying CVI as a potential cause for any LSC lesions or even intractable pruritus.

Keywords: Lichen simplex chronicus; Venous ablation; Chronic venous insufficiency; Radio frequency ablation; Mechanochemical endovenous ablation

Published on: Nov 3, 2018 Pages: 1-3

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/2455-5452.000030
CrossMark Publons Harvard Library HOLLIS Search IT Semantic Scholar Get Citation Base Search Scilit OAI-PMH ResearchGate Academic Microsoft GrowKudos Universite de Paris UW Libraries SJSU King Library SJSU King Library NUS Library McGill DET KGL BIBLiOTEK JCU Discovery Universidad De Lima WorldCat VU on WorldCat