Thank you Sheldon, I had a look on the net and researched this lichen planus thing and it is still quite nasty isn't it? and the doctors really don't seem to know much about it. I will take your advice about having it checked for malignancy. I don't know where I will start to find a medical person who knows about it, as I live in Australia, but I will persist, as it is too important to ignore. After researching this myself I I have concluded that I have had in it in the water works recently too. The urologist tested me for every disease under the sun and finally did a cystoscopy and found that the water works were almost totally blocked. I had been experiencing horrific pain when passing water and passing water was becoming increasingly difficult. Apparently the lesions form in the water works and heal and scar and eventually the scarring blocks the pipes so to speak. Obviously the urologist wasn't looking inside my mouth for him to see the lichen planus there. I don't have faith that he would even have made the connection if he had known about it to be honest. It is so important that we have comprehensive health care isn't it? Where a practitioner examines the entire person, and not just the bit that they have specialised in. thank you again and I will start searching for an oral pathologist in my area.