| Administrative history | Specialist dermatology, or 'skin' clinics, were first instituted at The London Hospital around the 1860s. A specialist 'Skin Department' was establilshed around 1902, allocated one bed in each of the hospital's medical wards. Dermatologist James Henry Sequeira (1865 - 1948) was elected Assistant Physician to the Skin Department in September 1902 and Physician in November 1903, and the early development of the department took place under his direction, alonside the (Finsen) Light Department for phototherapy, which housed the first Finsen lamp in England, purchase through a gift from the hospital's patron, Queen Alexandra.
From c1920s, prior to the establishment of a specialist clinic for the treatment of sexually transmitted infections at The London Hospital, the Skin Department oversaw the ‘Venereal Diseases I’ (VD I) clinic, which dealt mainly with secondary and tertiary syphilis, and other venereal conditions affecting skin. (‘Venereal Diseases II’ (VD II) was run by the genito-urinary surgeons and dealt mainly with gonorrhoea and other conditions involving genitalia.) The treatment of dermatological elements of STIs later became part of the work of the Whitechapel Clinic, set up in 1929.
The department became known as the Dermatology Department by the 1950s. |