Keratosis follicularis: who was Darier ?

• Dr Ferdinand Jean Darier (1856-1938) was born in Budapest, Hungary. He studied medicine in Geneva, Switzerland and Paris.
• He worked with Drs Ernest Besnier et Alfred Fournier and sub-specialized in dermatopathology.
• Darier is considered as the father of modern dermatology in France and wrote a dermatology textbook  “Précis de Dermatologie” (edited 4 times). He also introduced the term “biopsy”.
• 3 skin conditions/signs carry his name:
  • Keratosis follicularis or Darier’s disease*
  • Darier’s sign in mastocytosies
  • Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans (DFSP) or Darier-Ferrand’s tumor

• *Keratosis follicularis was initally coined by Darier as Follicular porospermosis. The condition was simultaneously described in 1889 by Dr James White (America’s first professor in Dermatology) as “follicular ichtyosis”, hence the 2 eponyms sometimes used together: Darier-White disease. 

Contributors

Dr Christophe Hsu – dermatologist. Geneva, Switzerland

Source of information:

-Harms M. Dermatologica Helvetica (The Swiss Journal of Dermatology and Venereology)

-Crissey JT el al. Dermatology and Dermatologists (2002). Parthenon Publishing