Sir Erasmus Wilson (1809-1884)

William James Erasmus Wilson was born in the High Street of St. Marylebone, at the house of his maternal grandfather, Erasmus Bronsdorph, a Norwegian by birth on 25th of November 1809.

Erasmus Wilson was a wealthy man and philanthropist. He first described lichen planus in 1869 and attributed its cause to stress.

He practiced in London, and published a “System of Human Anatomy,” (1842), which has passed through many editions, “Disease of the Skin” and other works relating to dermatology; “Cleopatra’s Needle’” (1878), and “The Egypt of the Past,” (1881).

Known as Sir Erasmus, he was of the greatest dermatologists of his time. He is so well known as a dermatologist, occupying the first rank in England, that any contributions from his pen must command attention. He was also known for his philanthropy. Erasmus Wilson was knighted in 1881.
Sir Erasmus Wilson (1809-1884)

Daniel Turner (1667-1740)

The English physician and surgeon was the ‘Father of Dermatology’ and wrote the book ‘Art of Surgery’. Daniel Turner was born on 18 September 1667, the third son of John and Rebecca Turner.

Daniel Turner received a degree from Yale College. He was accepted as a licentiate of the College of Physicians in London. Turner showed a considerable practical knowledge of dermatology and had a considerable concern for the welfare of skin patients.

Daniel Turner

He wrote the first dermatological text in English entitled ‘A treatise on Disease Incident on the Skin’(1714). The book was translated into both German and French. He also wrote a book on syphilis, ‘A Practical Dissertation on the Venereal Disease’ (1717).

He accepted without question that the gonorrheal urethra was ulcerated but carried the idea as stage further by applying it to women.
Daniel Turner (1667-1740)

Anne Charles Lorry (1726-1783)

The origins of dermatology have always relied heavily on visual observation of the skin. In the Cannon of Medicine by Avicenna written in Persia in 1025, treatments were described for a variety of skin conditions, including skin cancer.

Anne Charles Lorry was called the first French dermatologist; he had two special fields of interest, dermatology and mental diseases.

In 1777 he wrote the first French dermatological book: Tractatus De Morbis Cutaneis. In his book he arranged the 115 known types of skin disease into 14 classes.

He conceived the idea that the skin was an organ with its own blood vessel, nerves and lymphatics, but after being appointed as a physician to Louis XVI, he had to leave his interest in skin diseases.
Anne Charles Lorry (1726-1783)

Robert Willan - modern father dermatology

Robert Willan (1757-1812) a Yorkshire born physician –practiced at the Public Dispensary in London. He was accepted founder of British Dermatology. Willan was a general practitioner but had a special interest in dermatology; his greatest achievement was the modified Plenk’s classification of skin disease.

In 1798, Willan created his book Description and Treatment of Cutaneous Disease, with help of several artists, to draw the seminal morphological scheme for the classification of skin diseases.

Prior to Robert Willan, terms were used loosely to describe skin diseases. Two doctors might use the same descriptive term to mean different appearances. Attempts to describe disease characteristics in classification were ambiguous. Willan defined precisely the term used to describe skin disease.

Willan described the morphology of skin disease in detail, such as type of lesion, the shape and size, presence or absence of umbilication, redress, color, consistency, pattern of distribution etc.

In 1808 he published the first color plates of scaling skin disease described, in his worlds, as ‘the scaly psora by a distinct appellation; for this purpose the term psoriasis’. Willan was awarded the Fothergillian Gold Medal in 1790.
Robert Willan - modern father dermatology

History of modern dermatology

The Hebrew Bible of 2700 years ago describes dermatologic diseases and therapies, suggesting that disorders were of divine inflection. Avicenna (980-1037) a Persian scholar in his book The Canon of Medicine laid stress on the pores of skin as a route to eliminate the excess of humours for cure of diseases.

After the crusade wars (1095-1291), nee nursing and hospital orders were developed. The order of Lazarus, which was devoted to the care of the lepers, was found at the beginning of the 12th century. The first book committed to skin diseases was published in 1572 in Venice. It reported the oral lessons of Italian physician, Girolamo Mercuriali (1530-1606).

In A Treatise of Diseases Incident to the Skin, written in English and published in 1714, Daniel Turner (1667-1741) mentions crust and scabies in infants.

Robert Willan (1757-1812)

Robert Willan (1757-1812) and his talented pupil Thomas Bateman (1778-1821) created clinical dermatology by giving precise description of elementary lesions, a concept created in 1776 by Joseph Plenck (1735-1807). Joseph Plenck the Viennese protodermatologist is considered to be the forerunner of modern European dermatology. Plenck introduced the systematization of dermatovenereological diseases, based on their paradigmatic differences.

Dermatology in the United States began in the 1830s with Henry Daggett Bulkley and Noah Worcester.

Henry Daggett Bulkley (1804-1872) a Yale graduate in return from Paris, established the first dispensary for the treatment of skin and venereal diseases, the Broome Street Infirmary for Skin disease. He also developed and presented the first series of lectures on dermatology in North America.

Noah Worcester (1812-1847) a Dartmouth graduate after studying in the Parisian clinics joined the faculty of the newly founded Medical School of Ohio. Dr Noah Worcester wrote the first American dermatology textbook on skin diseases in 1845, Disease of the Skin.
History of modern dermatology

History of dermatology

The history of dermatology is the history of mankind. The history of dermatology can only be distinguished from the history of medicine at the beginning of the 19th century when dermatology like the other specialties began to be recognized as a specialities branch of medicine.

The invention of writings coincided with early cities in Africa. Early texts were mainly for administration or religious purposes, but medical writings soon appeared, Many of them related to skin disorders.

There was initial age of medicine dominated by magic, followed by the growth of rational medicine led by Hippocrates around 400 C. Hippocratic writings contained a number of passages which refer to cutaneous disorders. He divided skin disease into two types: local and constitutional. Local means those with an independent existence while constitutional means that those occur due to elimination of disease.

Aristotle (383-322 BC) too was aware of the hormonal association of baldness. He noticed that either normal women or eunuchs went bald and that both were unable to grow hair on their chest.

A group of brilliant doctors in Padua, including Vesalius and Mercurialis, set up a system of learning and wrote medical texts that revitalized medicine in Europe. Mercurialis wrote De Morbis Cuteneis in 1572: this summarized work of early writers and has focus on hair disorders, but still represents the first dermatology textbook in the west since the time of Paul of Aegina, 800 years before.

In 1817, Robert Willan produced images of skin diseases in his textbook, the first dermatology atlas that was completed by Bateman. This atlas went through many editions and was still in print in 1877.

At the beginning of the 20th century, dermatology was developing in most European and North American countries with fledging dermatology societies and dermatology journals.
History of dermatology