What are the symptoms of leukoplakia on the vulva of women? How to distinguish leukoplakia on the vulva from vitiligo

Vulvar leukoplakia is a disease caused by nutritional disorders of the vulvar skin, which is very harmful to women's health and is mainly manifested in the following aspects.

What are the main symptoms of vulvar leukoplakia?

1. Vulvar itching

Vulvar itching is a typical manifestation of life and the most troublesome symptom for patients. It occurs in any occasion, causing great embarrassment to patients. Itching is especially common at night. The degree of itching is related to time, menstruation, climate, food, environment, and mood. The severity of itching can occur intermittently.

2. Vulvar pain

When the skin itching is unbearable, the patient will inevitably scratch, which may cause local ulcers, fissures, ulcers and secondary infections, leading to pain. The pain is mainly manifested as local burning and pain, especially in the clitoris and labia minora.

3. Vulva turns white

As the local pigmentation of the skin decreases, the labia majora and labia minora generally turn white, and the skin color of the vulva is mostly purple or light red, but can also be grayish white or grayish blue, mixed with white keratinized patches with clear borders in different shapes and sizes.

4. Vulvar atrophy

Long-term damage can lead to local skin thickening, localized or diffuse white patches or spots, and gradual vulvar atrophy. Mild atrophy of the vulva, severe atrophy of the clitoris, labia majora and minora, tightening of the mucosa, narrowing of the vaginal opening, loss of elasticity, and even affecting urination and sexual life.

How to differentiate between vulvar leukoplakia and vitiligo?

1. Identify the site of disease

Vulvar leukoplakia mainly occurs in the vaginal mucosa, labia minora or outer side, clitoris, labia majora and other parts; vitiligo generally has an uncertain onset site and can appear anywhere on the body, often symmetrically distributed, such as in external parts, and can also be seen in other parts of the body.

2. Identification of tissue lesions

Vulvar leukoplakia is a lesion of the keratin layer; vitiligo is a hyperkeratotic tissue lesion.

3. Identify changes in the various layers of the affected skin

Patients with vulvar leukoplakia have thickening of the granular layer of the skin, elongation of irregular hypertrophic skin processes in the spinous layer, the basal layer may be a little liquefied and arranged irregularly, and the connective tissue in the upper dermis is degenerated.

The granular layer and spinous layer of the skin at the lesion site of vitiligo patients are normal, the melanocytes in the basal layer of the skin lesions are reduced or disappeared, and there is no edema in the connective tissue of the upper dermis.

4. Identification of inflammatory infiltration

In patients with vulvar leukoplakia, lymphocytes and plasma cells will diffusely infiltrate the upper dermis, and only the skin elastic fibers in the infiltrated area will be reduced; in patients with vitiligo, the lesions generally have no inflammatory infiltration, and the skin elastic fibers do not change.