Research Article

Oral Lesions Induced by Chronic Khat Use Consist Essentially of Thickened Hyperkeratinized Epithelium

Table 2

Analysis of histological changes in the buccal mucosa.

Nonchewers ()Khat chewers () value
Nonsmokers ()Smokers ()

Samples with fibrosis (%)132935
Samples with intracellular edema (%)131475
Samples with keratinization (%)267195
Percentage of superficial layer keratinized 0.7 ± 0.336.8 ± 8.833.6 ± 6.2
Number of rete pegs/100 m6.1 ± 0.49.5 ± 0.87.8 ± 0.5
Abnormally shaped rete pegs (%)8.1 ± 2.89.8 ± 0.414.2 ± 2.4
Rete peg depth as % of whole thickness38.3 ± 3.034.8 ± 3.742.6 ± 2.7
Proportion of basal cell layer (%)8.9 ± 0.28.6 ± 0.511.4 ± 0.4
Proportion of spinous cell layer (%)61.3 ± 4.464.6 ± 4.660.4 ± 5.5
Proportion of superficial cell layer (%)27.9 ± 3.426.8 ± 6.328.2 ± 3.4