Laurent-Théodore Biett

Laurent-Théodore Biett (25 July 1781 – 3 March 1840) was a Swiss-born dermatologist from Schams in the canton of Graubünden. He is chiefly remembered for introducing into France an anatomical methodology of analyzing skin diseases; a system that was first developed by British dermatologist Robert Willan (1757–1812).

Biography[]

In 1786 he moved with his family to Clermont-Ferrand. He received his initial medical education at the Hotel-Dieu in Clermont-Ferrand, relocating to Paris in 1801, where he became a favourite student of Jean-Louis Alibert. When Alibert's work at the Hôpital Saint-Louis was interrupted by royal obligations, Biett filled in for his teacher.^[1] From 1813 Biett was a doctor of medicine, later becoming chief medical officer at Hôpital Saint-Louis.

Biett was not known for his published works, however two of his students, Pierre Louis Alphée Cazenave and , took assiduous notes of his lectures. In 1828 Cazenave and Schedel published Abregé pratique des maladies de la peau, a work that was a compilation of Biett's teachings and was to become a major work in dermatology. Cazenave is credited for coining the term "lupus erythemateaux" (lupus erythematosus), derived from Biett's symptomatic descriptions of the disease.^[2][3]

Biett was a member of the Académie royale de Médecine, and in 1830 was awarded with the Légion d'honneur.

Associated eponym[]

• "Biett's collarette": a syphilitic symptom in which the center papule is encircled by a ring of scales.^[4]

References[]

• Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse (translated biography)
• [1] History of Lupus Erythematosus
• Pierre Louis Alphée Cazenave @ Who Named It
• Early Days of Dermatology

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