chosen by dermatology

 chosen by dermatology

Dermatology is the science of studying skin and its related diseases. Its content not only includes the structure and function of normal skin and appendages, but also covers the etiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of various skin and appendage related diseases.

Development history

Before the middle of the 18th century, the diagnosis and treatment of dermatology were generally undertaken by surgeons, and the knowledge about dermatology was also included in the textbooks of surgery; At the end of the 18th century, many physicians began to pay attention to observing and recording skin diseases. This trend continued until the 19th century, which gradually developed dermatology into a branch of internal medicine; At the end of the 19th century, the study of Treponema pallidum and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection became a relatively independent category in internal medicine; In the early 20th century, some physicians began to devote themselves to dermatology research, making dermatology a clinical discipline independent of internal medicine.

Dermatology developed very slowly in the first half of the 20th century. Its main achievement is to describe, name and classify the clinical manifestations of various skin diseases, and summarize many empirical treatment methods for various diseases. Because most skin diseases occur on the body surface, it is easy for clinical observation without further in-depth examination. In addition, there are no other inspection methods except skin histopathology at this time. Therefore, dermatology lags behind other disciplines (such as cardiology and Endocrinology) in exploring the essence of the disease. In the second half of the 20th century, various basic disciplines have made great progress. The latter objectively enriched the research means of Dermatology, and gradually deepened people's research on the etiology, pathogenesis and treatment of skin diseases.

In recent years, guided by the technological innovation of molecular biology, various fields of life science have made rapid development. They continue to intersect and integrate with dermatology, which not only provides more advanced research means, but also guides many scientists in non-medical fields to devote themselves to skin science research, so as to significantly improve the level of relevant research work. It is worth mentioning that modern dermatology is more related than Venereology, because some causes of skin diseases can often lead to venereal diseases.