Healing time in untreated paucibacillary leprosy: a cross-sectional study.

The healing time of leprosy lesions in 117 paucibacillary (PB) cases who took no antileprosy treatment was estimated to be 2.03 +/- 0.10 (mean +/- S.E.) years in a leprosy hyperendemic area. This healing time does not appear to be influenced by epidemiological characteristics of the patients such as age, sex, intrafamilial leprosy contact status, number and site of leprosy lesions, etc. It was also observed that the rate of healing and downgrading among the total untreated cases was 22.4% and 0.57%, respectively, per year. About 39% of the total untreated PB leprosy cases healed within a period of 2 years. The scientific implication of this observation is discussed.