Abstract
Karl Gustav Theodor Simon is considered as the founder of dermatopathology, because for the first time in modern times he beds the bases of the microscopical examination of the cutaneous diseases. He worked in Berlin as a private physician, general practitioner, especially for the poor patients, continuing his research in pathology and focusing on the cutaneous diseases, in which the use of the microscope had a central role. During his medical career, he achieved to be acknowledged as one of the most important figures in the treatment of cutaneous diseases and to be included among the best dermatologists and venerologists at the time worldwide.
Keywords: Cutaneous diseases, Demodex folliculorum, Karl Gustav Theodor Simon, pathology
Karl Gustav Theodor Simon (1810–1857) [Figure 1], most known as Gustav Simon, is considered as the founder of dermatopathology because for the first time in modern times he beds the bases of the microscopical examination of the cutaneous diseases.[1]
Figure 1.
Karl Gustav Theodor Simon (1810–1857)
He started his medical studies in 1829 in Berlin and continued them in 1831 in Bonn, where he followed the classes of Professor Johannes Peter Müller (1801–1858) the famous at the time German physiologist, comparative anatomist, ichthyologist and herpetologist.[2] In 1832, he returned to Berlin, and in 1833, there received his doctoral degree defending his thesis entitled: De aquae Binelli et kreosoti virtute styptica (On the water Binelli and Creosote styptica).[3]
Gustav Simon worked in Berlin as a private physician (today general practitioner) especially for the poor patients and continued his research in pathology, focusing on the cutaneous diseases in which the use of the microscope had a significant role. In 1844, Simon habilitated as a private lecturer in the Medical School of the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin where he gave lectures as a reader in General Anatomy, General Pathology and Therapy and Cutaneous Diseases.[4]
In 1848, Simon was appointed Director of the Department for Skin Diseases and Syphilis at the Charité Hospital of Berlin. In 1853, he fell ill with progressive paralysis due to neurosyphilis. Since at the time there was neither a cure for syphilis nor drastic drug to ameliorate neurosyphilis; he spent the rest of his time in mental health institutes as those in Potsdam, Neustadt-Eberswalde and Leubus. In 1857, Gustav Simon died in the Schweizerhof mental hospital in Berlin-Zehlendorf due to general paralysis at the age of 46.[5]
During his medical career, he achieved to be acknowledged as one of the most important figures in the treatment of cutaneous diseases and to be included among the worldwide famous dermatologists and venerologists of the time.
Gustav used to examine in microscope the specimens of his patients; therefore, his habit allowed him to discover Demodex folliculorum. As he described in his manuscript, he pressed among two glasses the specimen of skin lesions of a patient suffering from acne vulgaris and observed that there was a movement. After further examinations, he linked this mite to the disease in 1842.[6] His histopathological studies were included in Ferdinand von Hebra's atlas of skin diseases. His special manuscript, Die Hautkrankheiten durch anatomische Untersuchungen erläutert (The skin diseases explained by anatomical investigations), first published in 1848, was the first textbook on dermatopathology.[7]
His most important works were: De aquae Binelli et kreosoti virtute styptica. Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades, Berlin 1833 (On the water Binelli and Creosote styptica, Dissertation),[8] Über eine in den kranken und normalen Haarsäcken des Menschen lebende Milbe, Berlin 1842 (About a mite living in the diseased and normal hair sacs of men),[9] Die Hautkrankheiten durch anatomische Untersuchungen erläutert, Berlin 1848 (The skin diseases explained by anatomical investigations),[7] Bericht über die Abtheilung für Syphilis im Jahre 1849, Charité-Annalen, Berlin 1849 (Report of the Department of Syphilis in 1849)[8] and Über die Behandlung des Männertrippers mit kaustischen Einspritzungen, Charité-Annalen, Berlin 1853 (On the treatment of male gonorrhea with caustic injections).[10]
Gustav pathed the new way in studying and understanding cutaneous diseases through pathology.[11] If it had not been for his early death, he would have offered even more in dermatology and pathology.
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Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
References
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