Neurocutaneous syndromes in art and antiquities.

Neurocutaneous syndromes are a group of genetic disorders affecting the skin, the central and peripheral nervous system, and the eye with congenital abnormalities and/or tumors. Manifestations may also involve the heart, vessels, lungs, kidneys, endocrine glands and bones. When people with these disorders are portrayed in works of art, physicians have speculated on possible diagnoses. In particular, many figures have been labeled as possibly having a neurocutaneous disorder, sometimes distorting the popular conception of these diseases. We review numerous documents, drawings, prints, lithographs, xylographs, and portraits which span the ages from antiquity to the era of the pioneers behind the eponyms, depicting a large spectrum of neurocutaneous disorders.

The Fascinating History of Wound Healing Through Fine Arts.

Visual art images narrate the evolution of humankind including different and specific wound managing strategies. Through the observation of some notable art works we explore the empiric historical progress in wound healing and the main reasons they may have been represented. We briefly examine the cultural, symbolic, magical or religious beliefs that have conditioned the approach to a fundamental vital need of humanity: to heal a wound.

The importance of the details: The curious dermatologic story of the Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele by van Eyck.

The history of the restoration of the masterpiece the Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele by Jan van Eyck focuses on the expertise of an acute observer, a dermatologist, who noted the removal of an important clinical skin detail-a lesion on the lower lip. The author's re-evaluation of the historic images before and after the restoration confirms the observation made by Jules Desneux, a Belgian dermatologist, in 1951. The author read the book that Cesare Brandi, an Italian restorer, published in 1960 technically detailing the error and the inattentive restoration. In addition, the author found and read the book published in 1951 by Desneux, in which the dermatologist accurately and brilliantly reports the skin lesions of the aged canon and brings to life the absence of the nodule of the lip.

The positive outcome of educating HIV-infected children about beauty in an African village.

We report the interesting experience of the African Village of Hope (Dodoma, Tanzania) where HIV-positive orphan children have been hosted, cured, and educated in the last 15 years. The particular attention to beauty in the education of the children amazed us when we were in the village working as doctors. The project and the effort to create such a model of social and medical assistance were born from the idea of the founders, Sister Maria Rosaria Gargiulo and Don Vincenzo Boselli. In light of this experience and of the healthy result obtained in the village, we believe that education in the perception of beauty is a formative aspect for all children, but may also be a powerful adjuvant therapy in severely immunocompromised young patients.

Art and Wound Healing: van Gogh Cypresses-like Lipodermatosclerosis.

Lipodermatosclerosis may develop clinical aspects that have striking analogies with Van Gogh's style of painting cypresses. They may reveal specific physiopathological disorders and identify a homogeneous group of patients with chronic venous insufficiency.

Vasculitic Ulcers.

Vasculitic ulcers are an emerging problem in wound care that needs to be well defined and adequately approached by caregivers. Cutaneous vasculitis includes several inflammatory disorders that compromise microvessels and specifically the cutaneous vascular system: arterioles, capillaries, postcapillary venules. The pathogenetic role of circulating immunocomplexes and autoantibodies (antineutrophil antibodies) in these diseases has been widely demonstrated in animal models and in humans. Vasculitis can be limited to the skin or represent the cutaneous signs in case of systemic vasculitis with visceral involvement. The injury of cutaneous microvessels may result in impairment of blood flow and consequent focal ischemia and formation of skin ulcers. The ulcers are often multiple and localized on the lower leg and foot where the microcirculatory anatomy and rheologic dynamics are predisposing factors. Approximately 3% to 5% of skin ulcers may be caused by a vasculitic disorder.