Milestones in the history of Croatian dermatology and venereology: an outsider's insight.

While the first traces of interest in skin diseases date back to the 14(th) century recipes from Glagolitic manuscripts, the scientific beginnings of dermatovenereology might be associated with the beginning of the 19(th) century, when in the Rijeka region a 'new disease', called after the village of Škrljevo, was studied by Giovanni Battista Cambieri. This, however, has not been the only disease named after a Croatian toponym; in 1826, Luca Stulli of Dubrovnik was the first to describe the 'mal de Meleda', nowadays recognized as a form of hereditary palmoplantar keratoderma. In 1876, Carl Heizmann, a Croatian from Vinkovci by birth, was one of the founders of the American Dermatological Association. In 1894, the first department for dermatologic and venereologic patients was opened at Sestre milosrdnice (Sisters of Charity) Hospital in Zagreb. The beginning of the 20(th) century brought an accelerated development to Croatian dermatovenereology; in 1910, while still in its experimental phase, the drug Salvarsan was used in Zagreb for the treatment of syphilis. In 1921, the chair of dermatovenereology was established at Zagreb School of Medicine, and in 1927, Franjo Kogoj was the first to describe the spongiform pustule. In 1950, Ante Vukas from Rijeka developed a special method of epidermotectoscopy. If one remembers that the first history of AIDS was written by the Croatian Mirko Dražen Grmek, it would be allowed to concur that the history of dermatology and venereology on the Croatian soil has been characterized by a fascinating profusion and dynamism.