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Given that the skin is the easiest organ to examine – one need only have the patient within sight to commence some sort of examination – it is hardly surprising that skin diseases have been recognized in human medicine almost since the dawn of history, although effective treatment perhaps lagged somewhat behind. The Canon of Medicine, the famous five-volume encyclopedia written almost 1,000 years ago, described a variety of dermatoses, and even offered potential therapies for some, including skin cancer (the preferred medication was zinc oxide – still to be found in some topical skin treatments today, although not necessarily for neoplastic conditions). It was to be half a millennium later before a dedicated dermatology textbook appeared; De morbis cutaneis (“On the diseases of the skin”) was printed in 1572, and the first school of dermatology – in the Hôpital Saint-Louis in Paris – did not open until the early 19th century. One of its founding doctors was Jean-Louis-Marc Alibert, who strove to put dermatology on a sound scientific basis. Notable for his diligence – he would inoculate himself with substances thought to cause skin diseases – Alibert was the first to describe mycosis fungoides and cutaneous leishmaniasis, and discovered the scabies mite. Both human and animal dermatologists owe much to the dedication of Alibert and other pioneers, with their desire to further scientific insight and develop effective treatments. But whilst dermatology is now one of the most popular disciplines in the veterinary field, it is perhaps salutary to remember that after a thousand years we still do not have all the answers to skin problems. So whilst it will not be another 500 years before the next periodical or textbook on dermatology is printed, this issue of Veterinary Focus takes its place in the dermatologist’s library with the intention that the search for knowledge moves ever onwards.

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