Tag: Dermatology
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Biblical leprosy: A dermatologist’s perspective
Harry GoldinSkokie, Illinois, United States The descriptions of “leprosy” in chapter 13 of the Book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Bible are complex and difficult to understand. This confusion has led to misleading modern English translations of biblical “leprosy” such as “malignant,”1 “contagious,”2 and “virulent”3 skin disease. The preferred term for the biblical “leprosy” is…
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Dead Sea: Health claims and tourist delights
After the death of Alexander the Great, the land now comprising Israel and Jordan fell under the successive domination of the Seleucid kings, Rome, Arabs, Ottoman Turks, and the British empire. Lying in almost the center of that area is the Dead Sea. It is actually not a sea but rather a salt-water lake, and…
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Another look at the medical problems of Jean-Paul Marat: Searching for a unitary diagnosis
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793) was a practicing physician, scientist, and a leader of the French Revolution. He also suffered from a chronic, intractable skin condition, which troubled the last five years of his life. A tormenting itch caused him to spend whole days1 in his custom-made bathtub, from which he wrote revolutionary articles…
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Phillipe Gaucher (1854-1918)
In the days when syphilis was rampant in Europe and diagnostic modalities few, many unrelated medical conditions were erroneously attributed to it. There was, for example, the distinguished professor of syphilology and dermatology at the Hôpital Saint-Antoine and the University of Paris, who “aggressively promoted” the idea that poliomyelitis and appendicitis were due to syphilis.…
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An image in time: medical photography in dermatology
Andrea MarksUnited Kingdom Medical imaging has always been an important and valuable tool in the practice of medicine.14 Before the introduction of photography in the late nineteenth century, medical professionals used wax models, illustrations, and paintings to document clinical conditions and procedures.7,14 Photography has been used in the medical setting for over a century,1 and…