[Good must drive out evil. On cosmetic treatment agents and earlier times' viewpoint on skin diseases].

The interest in skin preparation and "cosmetics" has increased in recent years. This development, which seeks to satisfy the patients' wishes and requirements for a kind but at the same time effective treatment is of historical significance. The treatment of skin diseases was in earlier times pervaded by another attitude, to the effect that evil should drive out evil, e.g. syphilis, scabies and psoriasis. The physician prescribes but it is the patient who executes the treatment, a point more often borne in mind with regard to the diseases of today.