Why the Liquenia® Treatment emerged
Liquenia® Treatment was not born from intuition or a therapeutic trend. It emerged from years in consultation, listening to women who did not have an adequate response to the available treatments, and deciding that something better had to be found.
What I saw in consultation—and what had no answer
I have been working for more than two decades with women affected by chronic vulvar conditions. From the beginning of my career, vulvar lichen sclerosus was one of the diseases most frequently seen in my practice—and also one of those that generated the most frustration, both for patients and for me.
Not because there was no treatment. Clobetasol and other ultra-potent corticosteroids are effective in controlling symptoms in many patients, and they remain the first-line treatment recommended by all international clinical guidelines—ISSVD, BAD, EADV. The problem was different: corticosteroids control, but they do not repair.
I saw women who had been on correct corticosteroid treatment for years, with symptoms relatively controlled, but with vulvar tissue becoming increasingly fragile and atrophic, with irreversible anatomical changes accumulating. I saw others with an insufficient response, who continued to have intense itching and dyspareunia despite treatment. And I saw the impact all of this had on their quality of life, their relationships, and their self-esteem.
I wondered whether regenerative medicine could offer something different.
The question that gave rise to the research
My initial hypothesis was clinical and biological: vulvar lichen sclerosus has an inflammatory and immunological component that progressively damages tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells present in adipose tissue have anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties documented in other conditions. Could they act on the underlying mechanisms of VLS in a similar way?
Regenerative medicine was already using the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) of adipose tissue in contexts such as chronic wound healing, arthritis, or diabetic ulcers. The biological mechanisms underpinning that use were the same ones I needed: reduction of local inflammation, immune modulation, and stimulation of tissue regeneration.
The idea was to transfer that knowledge to the specific context of VLS, adapt it to the anatomy and pathophysiology of vulvar disease, and subject it to a rigorous clinical research process.
From concept to clinical trial
In 2017, we launched the clinical research programme in collaboration with La Fe University and Polytechnic Hospital in Valencia and the La Fe Health Research Institute (IIS La Fe). It was a rigorous process—as any research must be if it aims to translate into a clinical protocol.
The study design involved defining inclusion and exclusion criteria, establishing evaluation endpoints and measurement instruments, and standardising the procedure so that it would be reproducible and assessable. Every methodological decision had to be justified.
Patients were followed for 12 months, with periodic clinical assessments, validated symptom scales, and comparative biopsies when indicated. We documented not only whether symptoms improved, but whether there were histological changes to support it—the most objective way to confirm that the tissue was responding.
The programme results were published in Aesthetic Surgery Journal in 2025, one of the leading international scientific journals in aesthetic and reconstructive surgery. Publication in a peer-reviewed journal is a guarantee that the data and conclusions have been independently reviewed by experts in the field.
From the laboratory to international clinical guidelines
In 2025, the Liquenia-SVF protocol was included in the Clinical Practice Guideline of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS). This recognition is significant: it means that a committee of international experts reviewed the available evidence and considered that the Liquenia® protocol deserves to be included in the leading clinical recommendations worldwide.
For me, that recognition has a specific meaning: it validates that the path taken—from the initial hypothesis to the clinical trial and publication—followed the standards the scientific community requires to consider a protocol a legitimate therapeutic option.
It is not the end point. It is validation of the starting point to continue researching.
Why it is still necessary
Vulvar lichen sclerosus affects a significant number of women. The most conservative estimates place its prevalence at around 1–2% of the adult female population—although underdiagnosis remains a real problem. Many women spend years with symptoms without a correct diagnosis.
Conventional corticosteroid treatment is effective and necessary. But there is a space—the accumulated tissue damage, the insufficient response, long-standing disease—in which corticosteroids alone are not enough. Liquenia® Treatment was created to fill that space.
I do not intend to replace standard treatment: I intend to complement it with a tool that acts where corticosteroids do not reach. That is what research has shown to be possible, and that is what we continue to do in our practice every day.
If you would like to learn more about the protocol, how it works, and whether it may be an option in your case, the next step is to read what the procedure involves or request an assessment consultation directly.