Sun SL, et al. - Since topical corticosteroids (TCS) are the first-line drug in the treatment of oral lichen planus (OLP), however, the value of topical calcineurin inhibitors (TCI) for OLP, including tacrolimus, pimecrolimus and ciclosporin, remains controversial, researchers conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the effectiveness and safety of TCI vs TCS for OLP. This analysis included 21 trials involving 965 subjects. TCI including tacrolimus, pimecrolimus and ciclosporin were comparable to TCS in efficacy for the treatment of OLP (3–8 weeks). Tacrolimus–TCS yielded comparable results, with 3 weeks to 6 months of recurrence. Evidence for tacrolimus (n=12), pimecrolimus (n=3) and ciclosporin (n=6) showed that therapy with TCI could be an alternative strategy if OLP fails to react to standard protocols. When choosing TCI for short-term therapy in recalcitrant OLP, tacrolimus 0·1% should be the first drug of choice. In the tacrolimus and ciclosporin groups, some systemic adverse events happened, but they were not severe.