Lichen Planus Remedies - Ted's Q&A

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Want to Know Treatment of Lichen Planus

Posted by Linda (San Luis Obispo, CA) on 11/04/2006

Have you ever heard of a condition called lichen planus? I have oral and vaginal Lichen planus and have been given steroids to treat it. If you happen to know of treatments for this condition, I would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks.

Replied by Ted
Bangkok, Thailand
391 posts

Dear Linda: There are several remedies that can relieve the lichen planus depending on the kinds of organism you have. You should see results in 15 minutes (less itchiness) or maximum of 30 minutes.

The list below should have a good change of at least an improvement in your conditions. I should warn that the list below is by no means complete there are other formulas, but these are the ones that I used most often or at least most familiar with, I am assuming also that this is fore EXTERNAL USE only:

1. Lavender oil 100% Apply the lavender oil thinly or especially in some sensitive area. Less sensitive area you can apply more. Frequency of applications can result in longer term relapses. This seems to work quite well in most cases.

2. Boric acid. Certain organism are sensitive to acid. A 10% solution of boric acid applied to the area should reduce the itchiness. If the itchiness does not reduce by 15-30 minutes, then don't bother with continuing, it is probably acid resistant.

3. Borax plus 1% hydrogen peroxide. Measure carefully a 1% hydrogen peroxide in a saturated solution of borax (add water until borax no longer dissolved itself). This is effective against organism sensitive to alkaline. Lately this has become a pattern. Again if itchiness does not reduce by 15-30 minutes, then it doesn't work. For those who studied microbiology, you probably aware that organism tend to die pretty quickly where most organisms tend to die within about 30 minutes. We are so used to meds where itchiness or irritation won't reduce for days and in some cases weeks. Well the simple fact is: it's not working! You don't have to wait that long. I guess I have been brainwashed into thinking that.

4. Copper chloride 2% solution. This seems to be my favorite remedies, if you can get copper chloride. Apply to the area and if it stings, just rinse it with water. For some people copper chloride can cause a green tinge on the skin if you refuse to rinse it, but for many, they seem to like it! The green tinge is temporary and you can rinse it with water to remove them. For most people I know they liked it so much they don't want to rinse it. I guess the irritation was that bad!

For the most squeamish people, you can try another even more powerful antifungal formula, such as copper chloride 1.5% solution plus chromium chloride 1.5% solution.

DO NOT USE OTHER FORMS OF CHEMICAL, as the toxicity of different forms of chemical are very different. These formula I tested myself and have low toxicity and skin irritations. So do not change the chemical compound!

5. Vinegar in 1% hydrogen peroxide solution. The resultant chemical is often called peracetic acid. This used to be my favorite, but for application on the skin, many do not like it from the obvious smell of vinegar solution. Also certain organisms tend to be acid resistant lately due to widespread use of acid based antiseptic. However, it still works in many cases.

6. Zinc chloride 1% solution plus magnesium chloride 2%. If you suspect the lichen planus are viral in nature than this is your chance to try this formula. It will dry up the viral caused lichen planus in record time compared to doctor's meds. If it doesn't then it is not viral or bacterial in nature.

These are the main ways you can treat lichen planus. There is no way I can guess which part of your body is effected. Therefore, test a small area of the skin for possible irritation and if you have problems then switch over to the other formula where you don't have problems. In other cases you might dilute the formula in half instead of throwing away the solution altogether. Lavender and copper chloride are solution are the ones that are used most often, at least for me anyway.

In some cases, if the skin had some pus, often applying a bottle of drug store alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) to the area with cotton bud will dry it. However, be warned it hurts, but you need to apply to kill the active organism in the pus. After application the area will usually dry.

Assuming you have done the above and the itch does go away, this does not deal with the cause. Consider taking zinc acetate 25-50 mg/day and mangesium citrate (or gluconate, or chloride) supplements. You need not take it every day.

You can take it for one week and stop taking for another week, alternately, of course. Then once the conditions disappear or your skin becomes dry, you just stop taking them altogether, or if it comes back then you can take it on as needed basis.

Alkalizing is still important and you need to take at least 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda plus 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid in 1/2 glass of water twice a day. Once in the morning and once before bedtime.

An alternate alkalizing formula, is the lemon/lime formula. Since lemon in U.S. are quite big compared to what I used here, you can use half a lemon, or one small lime and keep adding baking soda until it no longer fizzes. Then add water and take it twice a day. You should notice that this lemon formula tastes almost exactly like water. But the bicarbonates and citrates will neutralize the acid in your body, and alkalize, thus increasing the body's oxygen and killing off the organism, mostly anaerobics.

Regardless of what organism we are talking here, most of them rely on sugar as a source of food. Thus refrain from any sweet foods, such as chocolates, fruit juices, maple syrups, etc.

Lately I have found some people who fear sodium (anti- salt) so much as to completely avoid it, thus causing the body to be sick and be overrun with infections.

If you happened to be staying away from salt or going all organic diets or all fresh veggie diet, I must warn you that the once the body is low in sodium, you can get lichen planus also.

To prove to you whether lack of sodium, just take 1 heaping teaspoon of sea salt in one glass of water. That is all and you not need to take again until the following week.

If the sea salt DID NOT reduce your problem then it IS NOT a the lack of sodium issue. If by chance it IS A SODIUM ISSUE, then you take it maximum ONCE a week, until the conditions are gone. This is an important remedy especially if you have Urinary Tract Infection, Irritable Bowel Syndrome. In fact these might actually be lichen planus too but they put on different names because they occur in different locations.

If you treat the cause, a disease by any other name, would kill just the same or as Shakespeare would put it in opposite terms, a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.

Replied by Jason
Tuscon, Arizona
05/13/2009

The above answer to this question is total BS. There is no 'organism' associated with lichen planus. unless you are referring to yourself as the organism because this is an autoimmune disorder. hyper reactive CD8 T cells have turned on your mucous membranes. don't buy into (literally) all the hype that these sales men toss at you. do your homework.

good luck.

Replied by Petric
Houston, Texas
05/19/2010

Jason, how do you know? Even the medical doctors do not know!

Replied by Frilly
Santa Barbara, Ca
07/18/2010

I have have lichen planus on my lower legs since December and the first doctor thought it was warts and tried to 'burn' them off. This only caused them to ulcerate, become infected, and now have left many, many unsightly scars. Doctor #2 gave me a cortisone shot and cream: It subsided for about 3 weeks and came back 3 times worse. Now it has spread to my upper legs and my arms. I did a 3-day juice fast with one week of raw food and noticed that when I came out of the fast, that tomatoes gave me an immediate reaction and the lichen planus felt super itchy and like it was on fire. Now I am going to go up north for a complete cleanse of water only for 2-4 weeks until it is gone. I did this 35 years ago for severe acne and I have never had it since. . . . So it is worth a try. I can't go on itching like this for the rest of my life!!!

Replied by Massageparlormistake
Lake, Fl, Usa
10/10/2010

Frilly from Santa Barbara, Ca, did the fasting work?

Jason from Tuscon, Arizona, that guy is your only help, you are lying to yourself because the Dr.'s want your money because they will only give you medicine that won't work, and this guy will give you something that will cause results based upon something effective. Treating the cause of the reaction that is being shown as a skin disorder. The idea is that there is an underlying problem causing the showing reaction, if you cannot understand this, then you have a long life ahead of you. I will try something's, including the alkaline diet. I have been cutting back on sodium for a few months now, and I ate a tomato earlier and flared it all up. What I feel is that I developed this after I went to an unlicensed massage parlor (No, no, no... ) and broke out on my arm and feet. I feel so stupid, but in time I suppose we will work all this out. It is a reaction caused by an underlying problem, this is obvious, otherwise we all would've gotten it along time ago, and there would be something we could do to make it go away. But there is something specific and underlying that is the root, and that is what must be treated. I would like to mention candida and yeast, as they survive on sugar and sugar seems to flare this up.

Here are some links:

Http://www.oralchelation.com/research/page22.htm


There is obviously a cure as it goes away for some people but not others. Usually when there is a lack of professional information, it is because the cure cannot be profited off of, but I'll let you decide. Do your research. As part of my "journey" I will be fasting again, for this reason, until I see a change in this reaction. "ine itched like a son of a bitch. Like yours it was atypical presentation. The rash covered my lower back. My dermatologist only diagnosed it correctly after a biopsy because of the unusual location. I used topical steroids to keep it at bay. Without them it would flare up and itch like mad. Unfortunately the steroids never made it go away completely so my back always looked like a pepperoni pizza. Thankfully, after 15 months of this it just went away on its own. I didn't seem to have any adverse reactions to the steroids, but they did worry me since they were incredibly strong and I was using them for way longer than the recommended two-week maximum (6 months, eek). I still have some pimples and/or scarring that won't completely go away. My back doesn't scare children any more, though, so I think I'll be okay heading to the beach this year. :-)"

Http://ask.metafilter.com/121056/What-is-your-experience-with-Lichen-Planus


I won't be dealing with the steroids... Unless I have to... Which I'm not sure anyone ever really does.

Replied by Rich
Boca Raton, Fl
03/24/2011

"There is no 'organism' associated with lichen planus."

www.joponline.org/doi/abs/10.1902/jop.2008.080303?cookieSet=1&journalCode=jop

"Conclusions: Microbiologic differences were found between sites with OLP and sites in subjects without a diagnosis of OLP. Specifically, higher counts of staphylococci and S. agalactiae were found in OLP lesions."

****

As far as I can tell, it's a yeast problem(not what this study says, though... They weren't looking for yeast, though). As for autoimmune problems, sometimes these respond to Iodine. Lavender Oil is good stuff, though.

Replied by Walter
Seattle, Washington
07/02/2011

Thank you all for sharing your experiences with LP it has been very helpful and informative for me. I am a 41 yr. Old male recently diagnosed with LP. It started out on the sides of my torso looking like small bumps and spread from there. To begin with it spread to my lower back and up the sides of my arm pits. Interestingly there were a few spots on the top of my feet and then spread to the soles of my feet largely in the arches. The real concern was before the diagnosis I had a few small spots on the head of my penis which was very troubling to me. Lastly didn't realize it until after the diagnosed but I also have it inside my mouth.

I started out by going to my family Dr. Who's great and very smart, when he couldn't figure it out he sent me to a Derm. Derm Diagnosed within 10 min. Then promptly wrote a script for prednisone and topical clobetasol. Being ignorant I filled the script and started dosing. It went 30mg for 3days, 20mg for 4days and 10mg for 3 days. I really didn't notice any side effect for the first 4 days however after day 4 I became seriously depressed, sobbing at times, feeling sorry for myself, and "worse case senaroing" everything……. This was my first experience with anything like that and it wasn't good. I do think that the topical ointment did help some and due to the large amount on my body I think the oral may have had some small effect, but I'm not sure that it was worth walking through the psychological low period.

A few things that I can tell you are that over the past 2 years I have really let my health deteriorate. My diet was pizza, pop, and candy. I would over eat all of the time, using junk food as a reward for working all of the time. From what I've read here today is that my past 2 years has been a recipe for disaster regarding LP.

So if this thing is idioimmune and needs to be fixed from the inside out I think that I have a lot of opportunity to make some positive changes in my health coupled with some of the ideas that are presented here. As of this week I am going to try topical Lavender oil, gargling with ACV, and obviously cutting all of the sugar out of my diet and curb my potions sizes to see if this will have any good effect. I am now drinking water only and trying to drink approximately 100oz per day as sort of a cleanse. I will post as I progress through the next several weeks. If anyone has any other suggestions feel free.

God's Blessings and vigilance to all in finding a solution.

Replied by Deanna
Augusta , Ga
07/03/2011

Hi , I finally got an internal medicine doctor who said parasites and fungus causes cancer. I would appreciate directions of how to cleanse my body from these things and get rid of all the sores. I tried to tell them I thought it was some kind of parasite but they want to call you delusional. I did manage to get from 88 pounds back to 100 and I am five foot one. I truely believe that parasites and fungses cause disease and we live in a world full ofr them. I am getting headaches, depressed from all this , I have been taking flaxseed oil and baking soda. I bought the strips to test my ph it was 6. 5 I have it up to 7. 5. I said since the 70's there is no money in well people and please give the measurements of what I should take to rid myself of this. I also have what looks like ringworm but it takes a tube to close 1 hole in my skin. The sores are bleeding, some of them. 1 doctor said I had some kind of dermaophyte, that did not help because there are many dermaphytes. I need to know where to buy what I need also. I am not giving up and I am trying to fight this. Whatever bit me started this chain reaction and as anyone who has been on earth clinic, I have had many , many mis or wrong diagnoses. I looked up a wasting syndrome it is caused either by parasites or cancer which I believe is a fubgus. Please help soon. I could not find the answer to my other post a while back. Thank you and God bless you all. We can get around this medical and pharmaceutical denial with natural ways.

TY, Deanna

Replied by Prashant
Delhi, India
10/04/2012

Nothing will happen from alopathic medicines... i was suffering from lp. believe me i lost hopes... but one doctor knows the cure... contact me to get details... i wish for his long age. sprabhat2005(at)yahoo.co.in

Replied by Prashant
India, 201002
01/05/2013

@ Jason from Tuscon... I am totally disagree, I did everything here- evrything means everything but there was no control. It was like horror story for me. I never do itching now, no new symptom from last 5 months, LP has cure.

Replied by Rsw
Uniontown, Oh
01/08/2013

Prsahant, If you know the cure for LP, then why don't you post it so we can all benefit from your knowledge? I see two posts from you saying you know the cure without saying what it is. Please post the details so many can be cured. Thank you.

Replied by Chuck Stillings
Deleon Springs, Fl
01/12/2014

It's been more than 30 years since I had LP.I went through several bouts in my late 20's. Both times I gave myself a course of Fulvicin which I had for treating horses with ringworm. It is an anti-fungal related to penicillin . I couldn't tell you the dose, I used packets designed for horses and just cut way back on the dose. The second time I got it I went to a dermatologist, told him how I was treating it and he told me that I was doing what he would have done. Three or four days should be sufficient.Generic is griseofulvin.Look up the possible side effects. The only one I encountered was headaches.The literature indicates a much longer period of treatment, but we would only give it to a horse for three days so that is how I dosed myself.

Replied by Ame
New York
03/02/2014

I have had lp for three years. I have been on steroids pills and topical creams. I continue to have flare ups and my skin is very marred. What can I use on my skin to help fade all of the marks?

Replied by Roshni
India
04/21/2015

Hi Ted,

I am suffering from Lichen planus Pigmentosus for past 4 years. Several treatments have been done including allopathic, homeopathic, ayurvedic but no result. Seek advice on how to cure it permanently.

Replied by Kay
PA
05/26/2023

I am seeing results with CBD oil for my lp scars.

Replied by Kay
PA
05/26/2023

I am seeing results with CBD oil for my lp scars.

Replied by Kay
PA
12/28/2023

Ted is absolutely right. In my Lichen planus. there are certain organisms involved in the condition also.


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