History of Latin American Dermatology

JULIO E. BAÑOS, ENRIQUE HERNÁNDEZ PÉREZ, LEANA QUINTANILLA SÁNCHEZIn 1936, Dr. Arturo Romero returned to the country, after having completed graduatestudies in France; he submitted interesting papers on syphilis during the Fifth MedicalCongress held in San Salvador, in 1938. An idealist to the highest degree, he participatedactively in national politics against General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, for whichreason he had to leave the country in 1944. He died with his wife in a traffic accident inthe neighboring country of Honduras.In 1938, Eduardo Barrientos returned, after having completed medical and Dermatologystudies in Switzerland, and began working with Esteban Reyes that very year 5 . Hedescribed the first cases of the pinta. A year later, he was appointed Head of the SocialWelfare Hospital and Head of the night clinic of the Health Office 6 . He later took over themanagement of the Dermatology Department at the Rosales Hospital and of the SalvadorianInstitute of Social Welfare until his retirement in 1978.Juan José Rodríguez obtained his Ph.D. in Medicine in 1941; he was appointed Headof the Dermatology Office at the St. Rafael Hospital of the city of Santa Tecla (12 km westof the capital); in 1942, he studied Dermatology at Columbia University, New York 7 . Uponhis return, in 1947, he was entrusted with the management of the construction of the cutaneousradiotherapy — in which he had specialized — bacteriology, mycology and smallsurgery units, expanding the service 7 . He published works on two cases of Hyde nodularprurigo, dermatitis due to herbicides, pemphigus in El Salvador, fixed sporotrichosisand the incidence of malignant tumors at the Rosales Hospital 8 . In 1951, he was appointedfull professor of the Chair of Dermatology at the El Salvador University MedicalSchool. He worked as the Head of the Dermatology outpatient office at the BenjamínBloom Children’s Hospital. He was an active member of the American Academy of Dermatology,of which he became honorary member, and a member of the International Societyof Pediatric Dermatology.Antonio Carranza Amaya obtained his Ph.D. in Medicine in 1947, with the thesis entitled“Leprosy in El Salvador” 9 , and at that time began working at the Dermatology outpatientoffice; he was later in charge of hanseniasis patients hospitalized at the RosalesHospital, and continued devoting himself to that disease. He completed graduate studiesat New York University’s Skin and Cancer Institute, and, upon his return, was in chargeof the anti-leprosy campaign. Other published works: “Epidemiology and Morbidity ofLeprosy in the Republic of El Salvador,” “Leprosy as the Cause of Handicaps in El Salvador,”“Malignant Lymphomas” and “Furuncular Myiasis in El Salvador.”Dr. Oswaldo Ramírez Cienfuegos completed graduate studies in Dermatology in Parisand Madrid, where he came in contact with great dermatologists, and returned to thecountry in 1950. He was always a very enthusiastic researcher; he published a largenumber of articles on dermatology topics, which made him one of the most internationallyrenowned Salvadorian dermatologists. In December 1957, during the First CentralAmerican Congress of Dermatology, he presented the results of his studies on a nosologicalentity that he called “Ashy Dermatosis,” also called “O. Ramírez Disease,” and knownin Anglo-Saxon literature as “Erythema Dyschromicum Perstans.” His presentation toexplain the etiology of the disease was remarkable. He was one of the organizers of thatFirst Central American Congress, and one of the most enthusiastic promoters of the constitutionof the Central American Society of Dermatology, which, as mentioned earlier,was founded during that meeting. He was very interested in the skin diseases sufferedby inhabitants of the country in pre-Hispanic times; during the Fifth Congress of theCILAD (1963) he presented an essay entitled “Dermatology in Mud in El Salvador” 3 .He was the Vice-President of the Ibero-Latin American Association of Dermatology(CILAD) and the President of the Eighth Congress held in San Salvador in 1975. He heldadministrative offices and was Deputy Minister of Public Health and Social Welfare.Dr. José Llerena Gamboa carried out graduate studies at Stanford University, California,USA, and then at the Pascua Dermatology Center, in Mexico City, headed by Fernando218