Good information to know in the differential diagnosis between lichen planus and lichenoid drug-induced eruption is the % of eosinophils.  That would be interesting. I guess I have to assume that no one in the derm path here at UC is going to make any eosinophil counts on my three slides.. ha ha. I would have to say, with H&E sections, eosinophils can stand out as cells with bright granules. I think mr. derm path that i looked at slides with yesterday would have had to up the magnification to see if this were so.  I am interested because it would increase the likelihood that my diagnosis was cement, concrete, mortar, grout related.  Publication with that data linked to yesterdays post and to this article here.
For me this is exciting information since differential counts of my peripheral blood smears has indicated an elevated eosinophil count (meaning various things, including a susceptibility to allergies) since I can remember… (so a long long time ago). This would make the diagnosis of my lichen planus more like lichenoid drug-induced (also called lichenoid interface dermatitis) for several reasons:
1) most serious lesions on shins – lower extremities, and now coming on the backs of my hands (abrasion from the leashes of two dogs when we walk, ha ha)
2) WHAT NEEDS TO BE EXAMINED in my slides…. the presence of 8-10 eosinophils per 20x field in the regions where lymphocytes are most dense. Gee… you would think that derm path could do that in about 10 minutes…. should i ask, or should i wilt back into oblivion because there is gender bias among scientists and mr derm path examiner himself would not be able to accept the challenge.

Anyway…. the point here is to make some connection between the lichen planus drug-induced (which in my case could be cement, concrete, thinset, grout-induced) dermatitis. Just thinking outloud here.