HISTORY
François Henri Hallopeau’s report on a “lichen plan atrophique” in 1887 is considered to be the first description of LS. The typical histopathologic changes of lichen sclerosus et atrophicus were published by Ferdinand Jean Darier in 1892. Unna, Westberg, von Zumbusch, and others elucidated the clinical features of LS in various case reports. This contributed to the panoply of terms, such as white spot disease or lichen albus, an aspect that complicates any literature survey. Lichen sclerosus in the genital area was first described in women by August Breisky as kraurosis vulvae and 40 years later in men by Alfred Stühmer as balanitis xerotica obliterans. Today, lichen sclerosus, the term proposed by the International Society for the Study of Vulvar Disease, is used most frequently.