Polish dermatology in the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries

The beginnings of Polish dermatology date back to the first half of the 19th century in Kraków. The first textbook of dermatology was written by Ludwik Bierkowski. Later the progress in the development of this field of medicine was due to Franciszek Krzyształowicz, Marian Grzybowski, Franciszek Walter, and Jan Alkiewicz. Krzyształowicz's most remarkable achievements were related to his studies of the Treponema pallidum of syphilis. Grzybowski's main contribution to international dermatology was the first description in the medical literature of a specific variant of keratoacanthoma, which has since then been called Grzybowski's eruptive keratoacanthoma or generalized eruptive keratoacanthoma - Grzybowski's variant. Alkiewicz described trachyonychia, or twenty-nail dystrophy, a disease that became well established in the dermatological literature; he also described the so-called transverse net in onychomycosis. Walter identified the syphilitic skin and bone lesions in some figures carved in the Veit Stoss's altar in Kraków, thus presenting the famous thesis of the non-American origin of syphilis in Europe. Considering all these achievements, it is the goal of this paper to review Polish contributions to international dermatology.