Familial Lichen Planus

The inclusion of lichen planus among the familial dermatoses was apparently first suggested by Hallopeau and Leredde 1 in 1900, although several observers, including Lustgarten, 2 Brocq 3 and Ormerod, 4 had previously reported cases of the disease with a familial background. Lustgarten's original case was published in 1894. There have been four important resumes of the subject. Jadassohn 5 in 1900 collected 12 cases from the literature, including 2 from his own practice. Three of these cases were of the conjugal variety. Galewsky 6 in 1921 reported a total of 31 cases, 26 of the consanguineous variety and 5 of the conjugal type. Spitzer's 7 comprehensive article appeared in 1924. He carefully reviewed the entire subject, adding 15 cases to the previous report, 3 of these being from his own practice. Juliusberg 8 covered familial lichen planus in the Handbuch in 1931 and presented the arguments for the contagious