Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Historic Perspective
Key points
-
From the historic perspective, atopic dermatitis has gone through several evolutionary periods of understanding and development.
-
From ancient times to the 18th century, medical communities started to recognize a type of itchy skin disease. Although the term eczema had been used, no unified concept had been developed and no understanding of its underlying pathophysiology was established.
-
The 19th century witnessed the rapid development of dermatology as a specialty, with the effort of classifying skin diseases based on clinical findings, and the recognition of acute and chronic forms of eczema, the infant onset of eczema, and the systemic link between atopy of skin and atopy of the respiratory system.
-
By the 20th century, the dermatology community formed a unified concept of atopic dermatitis from divergent hypotheses under the framework of the cutting-edge science of the immune system to explain the pathophysiology of disease, leading to the coining of the term atopic dermatitis to establish a set of diagnostic criteria and a link between skin atopy and allergic mechanisms.
-
From the historic perspective, the approach of managing eczema has gone through multiple modifications as disease pathophysiology became more well delineated.
Introduction
To introduce the subject of historic perspective on eczema, the following quote serves nicely:
Eczema has been rightly called the keystone of dermatology, and he who fully masters its management is not only skilled in regard to treating one of the most common and distressing of all cutaneous diseases, but has acquired a knowledge of the principles of dermatologic practice which will assist in the treatment of many, if not all, other maladies of the skin. l. duncan bulkley ( Eczema and its management: A practical treatise based on the study of three thousand cases of the disease , 1881)
As early as 1881, the medical community recognized the importance of eczema as a skin disease of high impact in medicine and in society. In this chapter we discuss the history of eczema from the perspectives of three historical time frames: ancient times through the 18th century, the 19th century, and the 20th century. We then discuss the historical approach to eczema treatment.
You're Reading a Preview
Become a Clinical Tree membership for Full access and enjoy Unlimited articles
If you are a member. Log in here
