Focal Epithelial Hyperplasia

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled Focal Epithelial Hyperplasia (Actas Dermosifiliogr. 2007 Nov;98(9):621-623.). Authors are Vera-Iglesias E García-Arpa M Sánchez-Caminero P et al., from the Servicio de Dermatología. Hospital General de Ciudad Real, Spain. Focal epithelial hyperplasia is a rare disease of the oral mucosa caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). It appears as a benign epithelial growth, usually in the mucosa of the lower lip. It is mainly associated with HPV serotypes 13 and 32 and there is a clear racial predilection for the disease in Native Americans and Eskimos. We describe the case of a 17-year-old girl from Ecuador with multiple papular lesions in both lips that were clinically and histologically consistent with focal epithelial hyperplasia. Analysis by polymerase chain reaction detected HPV serotype 13. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.