History of Latin American Dermatology

DERMATOLOGY ANDDERMATOLOGISTSIN BRAZILPAULO R. CUNHAEl Brasil y la dermatología■ Brazil and DermatologyThere are scholars who consider Brazilian Dermatology to have emerged, with regardsto theory and practice, at the beginning of the twentieth century, coinciding with amore dynamic phase of discoveries and research that preceded and accompanied thefounding of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology in 1912.We might say that there are three stages that outline our dermatological history: 1.The stage of blessings offered by the payés, which predated the implementation of highschooleducation in the country; 2. The pre-scientific stage, initiated with the founding ofthe Bahia and de Rio de Janeiro medical schools; 3. The scientific stage, starting with researchcarried out at the beginning of the twentieth century, and the development of thespecialized field.First stage: the blessings of the payès■ First stage: the blessings of the payèsThis period lasted over two hundred years, dominated by intuition and pure empiricism.The treatment of diseases consisted in the use of potions made with leaves, fruits,seeds and roots, essences, balms and dissolved, macerated poultices.Some of the substances of native phytotherapy that were later incorporated to theworld’s pharmacopoeia were ipeca, jaborandi, chenopodium, copaiba and ratania;ipecacuana, cinchona, coca, jalapa and podophyllum.It was not until the estabishment of the General Government that some doctors comingfrom Europe, such as Jorge Valadares and Jorge Fernandes, began to settle in thecountry.The pre-scientific stage■ The pre-scientific stageThis stage encompasses most of the nineteenth century, three centuries since the discoveryof Brazil having elapsed. In the beginning, a fortuitous event served as the base:the collateral advantages derived from the expulsion from Portuguese soil of the Royal69