[1801-2001: two centuries of dermatology and venereology in the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris]

The specialization "Dermatology" was born at the Saint-Louis hospital in France in 1801, in the light of the revolutionary reforms that led to fundamental changes in the functioning of the hospitals in Paris. Hence, the Saint-Louis hospital occupies an eminent position in the history of dermatology in France, reinforced by the role of Jean-Louis Alibert, who founded the French school of Dermatology. Despite the place occupied by the physicians of the Saint-Louis Hospital in the creation and development of the French school of dermatology, other physicians in other hospitals contributed to the expansion of the dermatology school. The work of Pierre Rayer, in the nineteenth century, at the Saint-Antoine and subsequently the Charité hospitals, are within this scope. More recently, the re-organization of the Faculty of Medicine into University Hospital Centers has permitted the creation of various treatment, teaching and research centers within the structure of the public hospitals in Paris. From the start, syphilis was part of the Dermatology teaching and practice. In Paris, several so-called "specialized" hospitals were created to house patients presenting with syphilis. Later on, the existence of these hospitals was questioned notably because of the constraints that their functioning imposed on the patients. Anti-venereal care centers were developed in response to the request of the practitioners to facilitate the access to treatment.