Skin Disease and the History of Dermatology: Order out of Chaos

Dermatology is an outstanding specialty of medicine in which to practice. I see the full range of age-groups, from one-day-old babies to centenarians; sometimes four generations of the same family; clinic patients and hospital patients; patients who are very sick and ones who are quite well; patients with skin tumors and ones with rashes; and ones with valid complaints, others with imagined problems. I get to act as internist, rheumatologist, pediatrician, surgeon, psychiatrist, infectious disease doctor, allergist, and immunologist every single day.
I had two main goals as I set out to tell this story. My first goal was to describe how the skin and skin diseases were viewed throughout history by the most significant natural philosophers, surgeons, and physicians who wrote about these topics. Most importantly, I paid particular attention to exactly what wassaid and attempted to compile each writer’s own words in one place, this book. Dozens of contributors to the history of dermatology are highlighted in this text, and while it was impossible to record every word, what follows is an attempt to give the reader a selection of some of the most interesting things that these great men and women wrote. The second goal was to examine the possibility that skin disease caused more suffering over the millennia than any other type of disease. With a focus on leprosy, plagues and pandemics, syphilis, and smallpox, I hope it will be obvious to the reader at the conclusion of this book that the possibility was a reality.
For supplemental material, the reader is referred to my website: www.historyofderm.com.