Dermatology as a developed term only came into existence at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century given the reality that skin disorders should have been handled and accepted throughout history. The coining of the word offered a field of medicine a standardized name that covered procedures and activities that may have been practiced for thousands of years. Any of the oldest records of modern skin care reportedly date back to the ancient Egyptians. All recognizes Cleopatra’s tales of swimming in butt milk, and the consequences of lactic acid in milk on the skin are still remembered today. But the Egyptians were likely to use certain ingredients to change their skin’s color, such as alabaster, oils and salt. For medicinal rather than aesthetic uses, they have added such substances to the skin with arsenic, for example, being used as an effort to cure skin cancers. Have a look at West Dermatology – La Jolla/UTC.

All across the ancient world the aesthetic effects of skin care used to be accepted. To soften and exfoliate the skin, the Greek and Roman cultures used a combination of substances like natural oils and resins (e.g., myrrh and frankincense) with pumice. In India, in Asia, they substituted the natural resins with urine to obtain the same effects and the ancient Turks accomplished their exfoliation quite dramatically by simply singing the flesh.

The Naissance of Conventional Dermatology

The word dermatology itself derives from the Greek for dermatic “head” and “writing” meaning from first the French dermology and then the latinized word dermatology. The French were in reality early pioneers of the medical field of dermatology, establishing of 1801 the first school in Paris at the Hôpital Saint-Louis. What we now find to be dermatology can therefore be tracked back to the early 16th century in Europe where most of this early research centered on the application of chemicals from traditional treatments as well as sunshine on disorders like eczema and psoriasis as well.

Dermatology in the 20th Century

Electrosurgery (treatment of electrical currents) and cryosurgery (using intense cold) of later advances in liposculpture (removal of fats from below the skin surface) and hair transplants took place in the first half of the century at the turn of the 20th century. The early 1900s also saw the use of peels to strip away dead skin and reveal new healthy skin , especially with the use of Phenol peels.

The usage of light treatments developed into laser production in the 1950s, and in effect these methods expanded in the second half of the 20th century to tackle hair loss and other cosmetic blemishes. In reality, laser therapies are still being developed, with recent developments focusing on treating problems such as stretch marks and skin tightening. Further advances in peeling techniques to replenish the skin were also seen in the late 20th century using trichloracetic and alpha-hydroxy acids which hark back to earliest Egyptian practices.