Oral leukoplakia

What it means

A thickened white patch on the oral mucosa that cannot be rubbed off.

The definition of oral leukoplakia states that the lesion be characterized clinically or histologically as any other condition, and is not associated with any physical or chemical causative agent except tobacco. Leukoplakia is a precancerous lesion, i.e. a morphologically altered tissue in which cancer is more likely to occur than in its apparently normal counterpart.

Rare diseases that can present with this6

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category

Also called: leukokeratosis · Oral idiopathic keratosis · Oral idiopathic leukoplakia · Oral idiopathic white patch · Oral leucoplakia · Oral leukokeratosis · Oral leukoplasia · Oral white plaque