Remembering Robert Willan: How one man forever changed the way we approach skin diseases

Abstract

Until the 19th century, dermatology was a disorganized area of medicine with a clinical lexicon comprised of imprecise terms that were utilized inconsistently. Classifications of cutaneous diseases at the time were incomplete and relied upon unproven etiologic hypotheses. One physician, Robert Willan, is credited with addressing these issues, thereby enabling greater diagnostic accuracy and effective communication between practitioners.1 His schema is the predecessor to our modern one, showing resemblance even 200 years later (Table I).