Walter Freudenthal

Walter Freudenthal (6 May 1893 – 27 March 1952) was a German-Jewish dermatologist who gave the earliest clear histopathological description of keratoma senile (actinic keratosis) in 1926 in Breslau. In 1933, he moved to London to escape the Nazi regime and worked as a dermatopathologist at University College Hospital (UCH) in London where he coined the term keratoacanthoma in the 1940s.

He worked with dermatologist Geoffrey Barrow Dowling on the connection between dermatomyositis and scleroderma and was later appointed to the first readership in dermatological histology by London University.

In addition to lecturing, demonstrating specimens at the Royal Society of Medicine and postgraduate training, Freudenthal wrote many papers on his histopathological findings, and chapters in dermatology textbooks.

Early life Walter Freudenthal was born on 6 May 1893 in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) in the Province of Silesia of the German Empire, to the Jewish physician Dr. Samuel Freudenthal (1864–1907) and Rosa Freudenthal née Graetzer (1870–1951). He was the eldest son, and he had a younger brother Erich. In 1913 he began to study medicine in Geneva, but this was interrupted by the First World War.

Early career While working in the histopathology laboratory and being in charge of the male ward in the outpatient clinic, he became a university lecturer and then full professor. He became concerned that existing skin treatments were inadequate and started to work with a pharmacist to educate himself on the chemical content of various ointments and creams. At the same time, he lectured on sexually transmitted diseases, dermatohistopathology and related topics. He also proposed that keratoma senile might be caused by sunlight. took up studies in dermatohistopathology at University College Hospital (UCH) in London. It was in this field that he was eventually appointed to the teaching faculty. In 1945 he was elected to the first readership in dermatological histology at UCH. Encouragement and collaboration with dermatologist Geoffrey Dowling led to an interest in the relationship between dermatomyositis and scleroderma. He regularly attended the meetings of the dermatology section of the Royal Society of Medicine and demonstrated his specimens on the screen. His comments were reported in their Proceedings. which was adopted by dermatologist Arthur Rook and pathologist Ian Whimster in 1950.

Death and legacy Freudenthal suffered from constant headaches who was also a friend of Freudenthal, devoted to him a chapter in her book Meine Freunde aus Davids Geschlecht . The chapter, named Vom Lotto, vom Trendel und vom Waltersmann (about the Lotto, the dreidel and Waltersmann), contained a description of him: A man with thinning, blackish hair, an unmistakable, nimble, bird-like gait, who would disappear as fast as he had approached. He would depart with a short farewell, which would not last longer than the usual good-bye on the main station of Breslau after a weekend trip, even when it involved foreign travel, the ocean, years, and war.

Selected publications Articles "Verruca senilis und Keratoma senile", Archiv für Dermatologie und Syphilis, June 1926, Volume 152, Issue 2, pp. 505–528. "Amyloid in der Haut." Archiv für Dermatologie und Syphilis, 1930, pp. 40–94. "Nodular Non-Diabetic Cutaneous Xanthomatosis with Hypercholesterolæmia and Atypical Histological Features", co-authored with F. Parkes Weber, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 March 1937. "Sarcoid", British Journal of Tuberculosis and Diseases of the Chest, 1 January 1948, , pp. 11–16. "Skin Biopsy", in Sidney Campbell (Ed.) Dyke's Recent Advances in Clinical Pathology, Blakiston, 1951. "Pseudoxanthoma elasticum and warts and condylomata" co-authored with Rudolph Spitzer in J. Jadassohn’s Handbuch der Haut- und Geschlechtskrankheiten: Nicht Entzündliche Dermatosen II, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GMBH, 1969.