Eponyms and clinical entities from the land of Israel

Seven eponyms have been pioneered by dermatologists in Israel: Brenner's sign, Chanarin-Dorfman syndrome, granulated sweetener packet sign, isopathic phenomenon of Sagher, lanolin paradox, Nakar-Ingber disease, and Wolf's isotopic response. In addition, there are three id reactions described by Israeli dermatologists: leishmanid, pediculid, and scabid. There is also the acronym PEMPHIGUS, which stands for the causative reasons for pemphigus. We celebrate these eponyms and clinical entities, which reflect the impressive progress made by dermatologists in Israel during the past century who have helped to build an academic, vibrant, and dynamic specialty in the Holy Land.

Eponyms that honor Jewish dermatologists: A celebration and a remembrance, Part three: Jewish physicians who practiced during the Holocaust and in its aftermath

Part III of this contribution continues to celebrate the many contributions that Jewish physicians have made to advance the specialty of dermatology, as reflected by eponyms that honor their names. Part I covered the years before 1933, a highly productive period of creativity by Jewish dermatologists, especially in Germany and Austria. The lives of 17 Jewish physicians and their eponyms were described in Part I. Part II focused on the years of 1933 to 1945, when the Nazis rose to power in Europe, and how their anti-Semitic genocidal policies affected leading Jewish dermatologists caught within the Third Reich. Fourteen Jewish physicians and their eponyms are discussed in Part II. Part III continues the remembrance of the Holocaust era by looking at the careers and eponyms of an additional 13 Jewish physicians who contributed to dermatology during the period of 1933 to 1945. Two of these 13 physicians, pathologist Ludwig Pick (1868-1944) and neurologist Arthur Simons (1877-1942), perished in the Holocaust. They are remembered by the following eponyms of interest to dermatologists: Lubarsch-Pick syndrome, Niemann-Pick disease, and Barraquer-Simons syndrome. Four of the 13 Jewish physicians escaped the Nazis: Felix Pinkus (1868-1947), Herman Pinkus (1905-1985), Arnault Tzanck (1886-1954), and Erich Urbach (1893-1946). Eponyms that honor their names include nitidus Pinkus, fibroepithelioma of Pinkus, Tzanck test, Urbach-Wiethe disease, Urbach-Koningstein technique, Oppenheim-Urbach disease, and extracellular cholesterinosis of Karl-Urbach. The other seven Jewish physicians lived outside the reach of the Nazis, in either Canada, the United States, or Israel. Their eponyms are discussed in this contribution. Part III also discusses eponyms that honor seven contemporary Jewish dermatologists who practiced dermatology after 1945 and who continue the nearly 200 years of Jewish contribution to the development of the specialty. They are A. Bernard Ackerman (1936-2008), Irwin M. Braverman, Sarah Brenner, Israel Chanarin, Maurice L. Dorfman, Dan Lipsker, and Ronni Wolf. Their eponyms are Ackerman syndrome, Braverman sign, Brenner sign, Chanarin-Dorfman syndrome, Lipsker criteria of the Schnitzler syndrome, and Wolf's isotopic response.

Edouard Manet's portrait of Jeanne Duval: Did Manet portray the disease of which he died?

In 1862, the French artist Edouard Manet painted a portrait of Jeanne Duval, then age 42, who was suffering from a paralyzed leg. Manet depicts her stiffly reclined on a sofa with her foot seemingly disjointed from her body. Duval later became blind. Around 1875, Manet himself began to develop leg pains and an unsteady gait, which progressed in severity until he died of complications of his disorder, during 1883, at age 51. This contribution reviews the clinical information available concerning the neurologic disorders of both the subject and artist and the differential diagnosis for each case, with a focus on whether neurosyphilis may have accounted for their respective illnesses. This contribution also pays tribute to Irwin M. Braverman, MD, who is being honored in this special issue of Clinics in Dermatology for his many contributions to dermatology and for demonstrating how the study of art can be a valuable teaching tool to improve the observational skills of medical students. A Special Message from the Author to Irwin M. Braverman, MD.

British Royalty and Aristocracy: Their skin maladies Part II. Queen Mary II's death from hemorrhagic smallpox

In 1694, Queen Mary II (1662-1694) died at age 32 of hemorrhagic smallpox, a rare and fatal form of the viral infection. This contribution presents the clinical features of Queen Mary II's smallpox infection. It also reviews, from a modern-day perspective, the disseminated intravascular coagulopathy involved in the pathophysiology of hemorrhagic smallpox, which is characterized by thrombocytopenia, coagulation factor deficiency, and hypofibrinogenemia.

Eponyms that honor Jewish dermatologists: A celebration and a remembrance, Part two: Jewish physicians who practiced between 1933 and 1945

This is the second installment of a three-part contribution that highlights the achievements of Jewish dermatologists as reflected by eponyms that honor their names. It covers the period 1933-1945 when the Nazis took over Germany and how the lives of 14 notable Jewish physicians, mostly in Germany, were impacted during the Holocaust. Many of them fled from the persecution, bringing their academic talents to other lands such as the United States. At least one committed suicide (Fritz Juliusberg), and three others perished in the Holocaust (Abraham Buschke, Lucja Frey-Gottesman, and Karl Herxheimer). They are remembered by eponyms including Neisser-Juliusberg pityriasis lichenoides chronica, Buschke-Ollendorff syndrome, Frey syndrome, and Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction. It made little difference to the Nazis that several of the 14 physicians had converted to Christianity. All were persecuted by the Nazis and had their professional careers destroyed. Two of the 14 physicians lived outside of the Third Reich (Bruno Bloch and Emanuel Libman) and were spared the suffering endured by the other 12. This tragic account of Jewish dermatologists during the Holocaust, and the eponyms that honor them, will continue in part three of this contribution.

Celebrating culture in American dermatology part I: A special tribute to Dr E. A. (Billy) Hankins III, dermatologist with American Indian heritage as a minor part of his ethnic background

This contribution honors the life of Dr E. A. (Billy) Hankins III, a board-certified dermatologist and dermatopathologist with 40 years of practice experience, now retired, having American Indian heritage as a minor part of his ethnic background. Hankins spent many years as a physician volunteer for an indigent clinic serving the urban American Indian community of the city and county of Los Angeles, California (the American Indian Free Clinic). He is a Vietnam era war veteran as well as a master sculpture taxidermist and wildlife recreation artist. He has been active for many years with the Association of American Indian Physicians, of which he is a member. Hankins is the founder and curator of vertebrate zoology and chief preparator for the World Museum of Natural History, an international, nonprofit public museum of natural history located on the campus of La Sierra University in Riverside, California. Dr Hankins' life story offers insight into American Indian culture as it relates to dermatology, and hopefully it will inspire more American Indian medical students to pursue a career in that specialty.

Ceratum Galeni: An old eponym honoring Galen and his cold cream

Ceratum Galeni is an old eponym honoring the name of Galen of Pergamum (129 to cca 216 CE) and a cold cream he described more than 1,800 years ago. We traced this eponym back to the 14th and 16th centuries in published medical texts by Guy de Chauliac (ca 1300-1368) and Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564). We also found a 4th-century reference in a medical work by Oribasius (ca 320-403 CE) to a mixture of wax and oil of roses based on Galen's cold cream formula. We present the images of a 19th-century apothecary white porcelain jar from Paris, France, on which appears the words Cerat Galeni, as well as a 20th-century oil painting by the American artist Robert Thom (1915-1979), which shows Galen administering his cold cream to a woman. Today, the composition of cold cream is formulated differently from Galen's original version, although the basic concept of cold cream as an oil and water emulsion remains the same. The widespread mention of Ceratum Galeni across the centuries and the popularity of cold creams today are striking examples of Galen's enormous influence on medicine as one of its founding fathers.

Poxes great and small: The stories behind their names

The word "pox" indicated, during the late 15th century, a disease characterized by eruptive sores. When an outbreak of syphilis began in Europe during that time, it was called by many names, including the French term "la grosse verole" ("the great pox"), to distinguish it from smallpox, which was termed "la petite verole" ("the small pox"). Chickenpox was initially confused with smallpox until 1767, when the English physician William Heberden (1710-1801) provided a detailed description of chickenpox, differentiating it from smallpox. The cowpox virus was used by Edward Jenner (1749-1823) to develop a successful vaccine against smallpox. He devised the term "variolae vaccinae" ("smallpox of the cow") to denote cowpox. Jenner's pioneering work on a smallpox vaccine has led to the eradication of this disease and opened the way to preventing other infectious diseases, such as monkeypox, a poxvirus that is closely related to smallpox and that is currently infecting persons around the world. This contribution tells the stories behind the names of the various "poxes" that have infected humans: the great pox (syphilis), smallpox, chickenpox, cowpox, and monkeypox. These infectious diseases not only share a common "pox" nomenclature, but are also closely interconnected in medical history.

Dermatologists with extraordinary life stories: Harvey S. Moser and the 1939 voyage of the St. Louis

Harvey S. Moser is a retired dermatologist who in 1939, at the age of 11 years, was a passenger with his family aboard the St. Louis, a German ship en route to Cuba that was carrying more than 900 Jews fleeing Nazi persecution. The passengers were denied entry to Cuba, the United States, and Canada, so the ship sailed back to Europe. Finally, Great Britain, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands agreed to admit the refugees. Unfortunately, 254 of the St. Louis passengers were later murdered by the Nazis after Germany conquered the latter three counties in 1940. This contribution tells the story of the Mosers' escape from Nazi Germany, their account of events aboard the St. Louis, and how the family ultimately reached the United States on the last boat to leave France in 1940, just before the Nazi occupation of that country.

Eponyms that honor Jewish dermatologists: A celebration and a remembrance, Part one: Jewish physicians who practiced before 1933

This multipart feature celebrates the Jewish contribution to dermatology over the past 200 years, as reflected by medical eponyms that honor the names of Jewish physicians. Many of these physicians practiced in Germany and Austria after the emancipation of Jews in Europe. Part one discusses 17 physicians who practiced medicine before the Nazi takeover of Germany during 1933. Examples of such eponyms from this period include the Auspitz phenomenon, Henoch-Schonlein purpura, Kaposi's sarcoma, Koebner phenomenon, Koplik spots, Lassar paste, ital Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Unna boot. One of these physicians, Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), became the first Jew to be awarded the Noble Prize in Medicine or Physiology, an honor he received in 1908 and shared with his fellow Jew, Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (1845-1916). Parts two and three of this project will present the names of 30 more Jewish physicians honored by medical eponyms and who practiced medicine during the Holocaust era and its aftermath, including those physicians who perished at the hands of the Nazis.

Dermatologists with extraordinary life stories: Nikolai Tsankov and his island in Antarctica

An island in Antarctica has been named in honor of the distinguished Bulgarian dermatologist Nikolai Tsankov. This contribution tells the story of Tsankov Island, and the remarkable man behind the eponym. He has participated in multiple expeditions to Antarctica as a pioneer in studying the effects its climactic conditions on healthy skin.

British Royalty and Aristocracy: Their skin maladies Part I. Winston Churchill: Wartime skin graft donor

Following the 1898 Battle of Omdurman in Sudan, Winston Churchill, then a second lieutenant in the British army, donated a skin graft to Richard Molyneux, a wounded fellow officer. This contribution tells the story of Churchill's skin graft donation within the context of the development of skin grafting as a viable treatment for serious wounds and burns.

Dermatographism in popular culture

Dermatographism was first described by William Heberden (1710-1801) more than 250 years ago as a type of urticaria brought on by rubbing or scratching the skin. In 1859, William Gull (1816-1890) gave it the name factitious urticaria, distinguishing dermatographism from chronic urticaria, in which the skin lesions appear spontaneously. During the 1870s French physicians at the Salpetriere Hospital in Paris became impressed by their ability to write words on the bodies of patients admitted with hysteria and other psychiatric disorders, who also exhibited dermatographism. At first, they described this phenomenon as "autographisme," but by 1890 it became known as "dermographisme," the forerunner of the current term "dermatographism." At the Salpetriere and elsewhere in the world, it became fashionable to photograph patients with dermatographism, to capture the striking urticarial writing on their skin. These photographs were used in atlases and to illustrate dermatology texts and medical journals as well as popular magazines. This contribution presents several vintage photographs of dermatographism from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Dermatographism has also become featured in popular culture including film, comic books, poetry, and body art, examples of which are provided in this contribution with the assistance of two of our authors, Ariana Page Russell and Jeannine Hall Gailey, who have embraced their dermatographism and have used their artistic and poetic talents to educate and inspire patients about this common skin condition.

The dermatologist who studied music under Aaron Copland: John Thorne Crissey, MD

John Crissey was a master teacher of dermatology and its history. He also enjoyed composing music. In 1958, Crissey received the thrill of a lifetime: the opportunity to study advanced musical composition under the tutelage of Aaron Copland, the "Dean of American Composers." This contribution tells the story of that didactic experience. It also pays tribute to two remarkable men, who contributed so much to the development of their respective professions and whose music has enriched the world with its beauty.

Teen Dating Abuse, Rape and Violence: The Dermatologist's Role

Teen dating abuse, rape and violence are considered major public health problems that impact the lives of millions of teens in the United States. Dermatologists have traditionally become involved in these cases when confronted with patients who have unexplained bruising, or other skin injuries, and/or sexually transmitted diseases which raise the possibility that they could be victims of sexual abuse and violence. This contribution explores the role of the dermatologist in the diagnosis and management of teen dating abuse. We suggest some screening questions that might help to broach these serious issues with teen patients when the suspicion of dating abuse arises. We also provide a list of resources and hotlines that offer advice on how best to handle teen dating abuse. Some legal issues concerning the physician's role in managing teen dating abuse, rape, and violence are also discussed.

Lamentations by a Jewish Poet on his Skin Affliction: Solomon Ibn Gabirol

Solomon Ibn Gabirol was a highly respected medieval Jewish poet and philosopher who lived in Spain. He suffered from a distressing, chronic cutaneous disorder of unknown etiology, which he poetically portrays in his poetry by using fantastic and grotesque imagery derived from Biblical sources. This contribution provides examples of Ibn Gabirol's remarkable poetry, which spotlights the immense human suffering and misery that can result from skin diseases.

The Monkeypox Outbreak 2022: Women and Children Patients

Between January 1, 2022 and July 4, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) received 6,027 reports of laboratory-confirmed patients of monkeypox, predominantly men, that had occurred during a multi-country outbreak of the virus. During this period, 21 women and six children were reportedly infected with the monkeypox virus. Although the infected number of women and children was small, these data are worrisome, because young children and pregnant women are at increased risk of severe outcomes from monkeypox. One infant already has been hospitalized in intensive care in London, England. The WHO data regarding the 2022 monkeypox outbreak also indicate that 25 healthcare workers have been diagnosed with monkeypox, although it is still being investigated whether their infection was due to occupational exposure. Three deaths from monkeypox have been reported to WHO during this monkeypox outbreak. A special focus of this presentation is on the monkeypox infection involving women and children.

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks from a dermatology perspective: A remembrance

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, caused a significant loss of life and resulted in injuries, plus other health issues that continue to plague many survivors and responders to this day. With the 20th anniversary of this tragedy approaching, this contribution looks at the dermatologic injuries suffered on the day of the attacks, including burns and lacerations, along with the chronic skin conditions that have afflicted survivors and responders during the nearly two decades since. These chronic illnesses include sarcoidosis, autoimmune disease, ill-defined skin lesions and irritation, nonmelanoma skin cancer, and melanoma. We also recognize the heroism of first responders who struggled to save the lives of those injured at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, many of whom have suffered health consequences that continue to have lasting effects on them and on the people they treated.

Erasmus Wilson's role in soap advertisements: Cleansing a soiled reputation

Sir Erasmus Wilson was a pioneer in dermatology and one of the most famous doctors in Victorian England. He enjoyed a sterling professional reputation, with one exception. During the 1860s, his name appeared in a wide variety of cosmetic advertisements endorsing commercial products such as Pears soap, which is still marketed today, as well as hair washes and pomades. Questions were raised in The Lancet about the propriety of Wilson's involvement with such commercial products. Wilson denied in a letter to The Lancet any connection with these advertisements; nonetheless, some confusion has lingered over the years about whether Wilson received any financial compensation from the Pears Soap Company in return for his product endorsements, and whether he enjoyed a business relationship with cosmetic companies that added to his wealth. This contribution presents a comprehensive review of Erasmus Wilson's relationship with cosmetic companies and his struggle to distance himself from them.

The rabbi who turned gray overnight

Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, a great Torah scholar during the first century ce, turned rapidly gray at the age of 18. This contribution presents details of his case history in light of the current medical understanding of canities subita and recent scientific evidence showing that acute stress can lead to accelerated graying.

Nutrition and art: 19th century images of scurvy, chlorosis, and pellagra

Epidemics of nutritional deficiency disorders, caused by a lack of vitamins and minerals, were once very common and claimed many victims. Fortunately, advances in medicine have led to improved diets and a decline in the incidence of these disorders so that they are now seen clinically less often. Reminders of diseases such as scurvy, chlorosis, and pellagra can be found in artwork from the 19th century. The striking clinical presentation of these diseases caught the attention of artists who used them as themes in their work. We discuss the following three works of art: Gustave Doré's engraving for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (plate 10), which features scurvy; Sebastian Junyent's painting Chlorosis; and Giuseppe Mentessi's painting Our Daily Bread, which portrays pellagra.

Foster Swift: A guiding spirit in early American dermatology

Foster Swift (1833-1875) was a pioneer of early American dermatology. In 1866, he became one of the first lecturers on diseases of the skin in the United States at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York. The following year, he was appointed one of our nation's first professors of dermatology at the same institution. In 1869, Swift helped to found the New York Dermatological Society, the first such organization in the world. He also contributed to the American Journal of Syphilography and Dermatology, the first dermatology journal to be published in the United States. Unfortunately, Swift contracted tuberculosis in 1870, curtailing his professional career, and he died of the disease five years later. This contribution tells the story of Foster Swift, a most remarkable physician, who guided and helped to shape American dermatology during its formative years.

The Avicenna lunar crater

Fifty years ago, in 1970, a lunar crater was named in honor of Avicenna, one of the most influential physicians of the Medieval period. His encyclopedic work, The Canon of Medicine, attempted to codify all medical knowledge including dermatology. This contribution provides a brief overview of Avicenna, his contributions to medicine and dermatology, and the lunar crater named after him.

COVID-19-related skin manifestations: Update on therapy

An increasing body of evidence has been produced in a very limited period to improve the understanding of skin involvement in the current coronavirus 2019 disease pandemic, and how this novel disease affects the management of dermatologic patients. A little explored area is represented by the therapeutic approach adopted for the different skin manifestations associated with the infection. An overview of the current scenario is provided, through review of the English-language literature published until October 30, 2020, and comparison with the personal experience of the authors. As dermatologists, our primary aim is to support patients with the highest standard of care and relieve suffering, even with lesions not life-threatening. With asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, patient discomfort related to skin lesions should not be undervalued and intervention to accelerate healing should be provided. Consensus protocols are warranted to assess the best skin-targeted treatments in COVID-19 patients.

Domestic violence in the coronavirus disease 2019 era: Insights from a survivor

Amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there has been an alarming rise in domestic violence worldwide. Factors believed to be fueling this escalation in domestic violence include increasing social confinement at home during lockdowns and mounting stress levels from unemployment that have resulted from the economic uncertainties of these times. This contribution explores some of the challenges faced by physicians in clinically assessing victims of domestic violence during the COVID-19 era. One such challenge is the increased reliance on telemedicine during the pandemic, a medium of communication that offers a narrower clinical view of patients than is what is usually provided by an in-person examination. In this contribution, we offer suggestions on how best to screen for domestic violence, whether through telemedicine or during an in-person encounter. The history and physical findings that suggest domestic violence are reviewed along with recommendations on how to make the clinical examination more sensitive and compassionate to the needs of the victims. One of the authors of this contribution (L.C.H.) is herself a survivor of domestic violence and has courageously shared, in these pages, details of her harrowing near murder by an abusing husband. From this case history, it is hoped that readers will gain wider insights into what domestic violence means from the perspective of a victim and how we can better help save victims from this widespread and devastating social problem.

How dermatology got its name

The name "dermatology" began to appear in the medical literature around 1813. It was not until the 1860s and 1870s, however, that "dermatology" was used to denote academic ranks in the United States; for example, in 1867, Foster Swift was appointed "Professor of Dermatology" at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, and Faneuil Dunkin Weisse became "Professor of Dermatology" in the Medical Department of University of the City of New York. In England, Erasmus Wilson popularized the name "dermatology" in 1870 by founding and occupying the first Chair of Dermatology at the Royal College of Surgeons. The term "dermatology" also began to be used in the titles of academic publications during the 1870s, such as Erasmus Wilson's Lectures on Dermatology or as in The American Journal of Syphilography and Dermatology, the first dermatology journal published in the United States. The English term "dermatology" comes from the Greek "dermatologia," which has been semantically traced back to 1777.

The Ubangi misnomer

Lip plates are a form of body modification practiced today by several tribes in Africa and Amazonia. In 1930, the American people were introduced to lip plates in a most spectacular fashion, when the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus brought in 13 Congolese natives to star as the newest attraction in their sideshow. The Congolese women wore huge lip plates, a result of cultural lip piercing with progressive lip stretching by wooden pegs and plates. The Congolese exhibit was publicized throughout the country as the "Ubangi Savages," a made-up name selected from an African map, because it had an exotic ring to it. This contribution tells the story of the Ubangi Savages and explains their practice of lip piercing and stretching. It also discusses how tissue expansion has been adapted for use in reconstructive surgery which, along with lip plates, is a way people strive to maintain and enhance the beauty of their bodies, whether for medical or cultural reasons.

On the mound with melanoma: The Jim Umbricht story

Jim Umbricht (1930-1964) was a Major League baseball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros (formerly Houston Colt .45s). In 1963, he was diagnosed with stage III malignant melanoma which presented with a right leg pigmented skin lesion and right groin lymphadenopathy. Umbricht was treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center and Tumor Institute in Houston with the relatively new therapeutic modality of isolated limb perfusion. He was able to resume pitching 2 months after the surgery and played the remainder of the baseball season. Unfortunately, he died of metastatic disease on April 8, 1964. This contribution highlights Umbricht's medical care back in 1963 compared with current treatment options for advanced-stage malignant melanoma. Jim Umbricht's courageous story increased public awareness of malignant melanoma and can still inspire us to educate the public about this deadly form of skin cancer.

Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki through art

Around 75 years ago, two atomic bombs were dropped over Japan, killing somewhere between 129,000 and 226,000 people in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From amid the ensuing destruction, there came forth survivors of the blasts who have given us, through their words and art, vivid descriptions of the horrors they endured. This contribution features three works of art that portray two major skin injuries caused by the nuclear explosions: flash burns and acute radiation syndrome. These artworks serve as a remembrance for the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The art is also a tribute to the courage of the many atomic bomb survivors who have spoken out against the threat of nuclear weapons, sharing with us their vision of peace.

Blemished noses in the art of three masters: Ghirlandaio, Rembrandt, and Warhol

Blemished noses are portrayed in the paintings of such noted artists as Ghirlandaio, Rembrandt, and Andy Warhol. Sometimes, the deformity results from a skin disorder such as rhinophyma as in Ghirlandaio's An Old Man and his Grandson or a saddle nose deformity from congenital syphilis as in Rembrandt's Portrait of Gerard de Lairesse. Andy Warhol's Before and After portrays a large nose before and after cosmetic surgery. This contribution explores some of the lessons that can be learned, both artistically and medically, from these famous works of art.

Celestial effects on the skin

Many factors affect the health and physiology of human skin, with some of them arising from outer space. This contribution explores four celestial influences on the skin: (1) the sun's ultraviolet light, which has both beneficial and deleterious dermatologic effects, (2) meteorite injuries, (3) possible lunar effects on the body's health, and (4) cosmic radiation as a risk factor for skin cancer and pregnancy-related complications. Some of these extraterrestrial influences on skin health have taken on added significance as human beings increasingly spend more time at higher altitudes in aircraft, spaceships, and space stations.

Along came a spider: Medicine's most famous spider eponyms

Spiders have long been admired for the beauty of their webs. They are celebrated in popular culture as well as in medical eponyms. This contribution provides the historical background for three spider-related eponyms: nevus araneus (spider angioma), arachnodactyly, and the arachnoid mater. Nevus araneus was first named and described by Sir Erasmus Wilson in 1842. Arachnodactyly was described in 1896 by Antoine Marfan using the term pattes d'araignée, which means spider legs. In 1902, Emile Charles Achard proposed the term arachnodactyly for this clinical finding. The arachnoid mater had been named in 1699 by Frederik Ruysch. The clinical management of spider bites from the only two dangerous venomous spiders within the United States, the black widow spider (Latrodectus mactans) and the brown recluse spider (Loxosceles reclusa), is reviewed.

Can aging be slowed down?

Aging is a complex process, with genetic and environmental influences, that unfolds over time. The rate at which skin aging proceeds is predictable, although many persons appear older or younger than their chronologic age. This is especially evident in rare genetic disorders such as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome in which persons suffer from a premature aged appearance and in neotenic complex syndrome in which children appear to be "frozen in time," remaining physically and cognitively similar to an infant or toddler despite increasing age. Ideally, it would be desirable to slow down the aging process with the hope of looking younger longer and improving good health and longevity. Evidence that this is possible comes from data showing increases in average human life expectancy over the past century and recognition of the photoaging effects of sun exposure, with the development of protective strategies, including the routine use of clothing, hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen while avoiding the sun during its peak hours of 10 am to 4 pm. Other strategies for maintaining younger-looking skin include the adoption of a healthy lifestyle and use of antiaging skin preparations. Stem cell therapy may also play a role in aging therapy. Current research is clarifying the genetic basis of skin youthfulness and may help to direct future therapies to target key biologic pathways of aging.