Objective: To assess the clinical characteristics of oral lichen planus (OLP) in a Chinese cohort. Methods: A total of 539 OLP patients were enrolled in this study. Clinical and histopathological examinations were used for diagnosis. All data were analyzed statistically by t test, chi-square test, and Spearman correlation analysis with SPSS. Results: The mean age of OLP patients was 50.2 years. The ratio of males to females was 1:1.44. Reticular type occurred in 56.40% of the patients, followed by erosive type (24.86%) and erythematous type (18.74%). Patients aged less than 40 years were susceptible to reticular lesions (P = 0.001) whereas patients more than 60 years were susceptible to erosive lesions (P 0.05). In total, 25.34% of the OLP male patients were smokers, higher than that of the control group (16.76%; P 0.05). With the increase of duration and quantity of tobacco consumption, the erosion type became less frequent (P = 0.009 and 0.007 respectively). However, no difference in smoking was observed between the women with and without OLP. Conclusion: OLP occurs more commonly in middle-aged women. In patients younger than 40 years, the reticular type occurs more often, whereas erosion type is more common in patients older than 60 years. Erosion was less frequent in the OLP patients who smoked. Palabras clave: lichen planus, oral disease, mucosa oral lichen planus, smoking