A brief history of tropical dermatology

Although geography is the main determinant of tropical dermatology, some definitions include the infections carried by the predators living there and many will include any skin condition occurring between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, even if they are even more common elsewhere. A description of the history of tropical dermatology is dependent on travelers who provided reports. Its literature is often provided by military men. Dermatology also may be described in a manner that leaves out much of what happens to the skin, such as wounds and burns or manifestations of infections and malnutrition. Important too is the perspective of treatment that may include more than one system of medicine. There is also the overlap with the cosmetic. This essay draws attention to the writers of the past who wrote on these topics.