History of Latin American Dermatology

History of Dermatology among Argentine indigenous culturesSymbols of beautyEar piercing was carried out with fragments of bone, splinters or deer horn, afterwardsintroducing a palm leaf which by expansion enlarged the orifice, the ear lobebeing liable to reach as far as the shoulder.Tattooing, widespread among the cultures of the Americas, exhibited a refined expressionamong the Abipone, who scarified the skin of the face, chest and arms. Theprimitive chisel was a rigid thorn which affixed vegetable dyes, soot and ashes within thedermis. The filigrees of this indelible seal constituted a banner for tribal differentiation.Almost all peoples of Paracuariaii* tattooed themselves. The Abipone gave this art theterm likinranala. Asked about the meaning or cause of this barbarous custom, the nativeswould reply that they had inherited it from their ancestors. This ordeal lasted five days,during which the teenage girl remained locked up in her hut, covered by an animal skin,and deprived of some food such as meat and fish. The numerous sessions in close successionbloated the face, with edema and tumefaction. From an early age, girls plucked theireyebrows and lashes, partially shaving their scalp as an element of tribal identification.D) PILAGÁAdornmentThese Indians combed their very abundant hair with combs made of slender pieces ofwood and wore earrings of the same material. We shall particularly consider ear piercing:these partial mutilations were practiced on both sexes, introducing wooden buttonsor rolled-up palm leaves. The orifice was expanded until it allowed the wearing of a diskwith a 4 or 5-centimeter diameter.They practiced the removal of body hair and painted their skin as decoration. Theywere almost always barefoot.TattooingInlaying was very widespread among the Pilagá along the Pilcomayo River. This magicaland difficult art was practiced with cardón (elephant cactus) thorns, rubbing diversesubstances, soot among them, over the punctured skin. Children were tattooed withdrawings representing geometrical figures: ovals, circles and rhombuses, divided by diameters,diagonal or rectangular.The answers they gave regarding the motives for the diverse tattoos were: “it’s a Pilagámark,” or “so they won’t catch the plague,” or “to acquire immunity.”3. MatacoMEDICAL BOTANYThe naturalists who ventured into the intimacy of the Amazonian growth or reachedthe banks of its rivers gathered exceptional phytological observations. We shall mentiona few species:Palo santo (or palo bendito or guayacán) (holy wood): employed for diverse ailmentsby all tribes of the northeast. The Jesuit brother Pedro de Montenegro, an acknowledgedsurgeon and herbalist of Paraguay, summarized all the applications of this tree speciesin his Materia Medica, written in the early eighteenth century. Known in Europe as amajor cure-all, it was employed in the treatment of syphilis, in arthropathies and in circulationdisorders. Their preparations employed the resin from the bark and it was held* A widespread area of South America, where the Jesuit missions were located; its capital was Córdoba del Tucumán.25