Updating the dermatologic nomenclature: names that are good or bad.

Dermatology probably has the largest vocabulary of any of the medical specialties,1 a statement to which we can attest when we reviewed aspects of the Dermatology Lexicon project. Some terms are derived from the Latin or Greek and present spelling problems to all but a select few. Examples include acrokeratosis verruciformis and pterigium. Other diseases carry names that are such a mouthful that few can call them out without the interruption of breathing. These might include erosio interdigitalis blastomycetica and dermatitis exudative discoid and lichenoid of Sulzberger and Garbe. No wonder the former is now referred to simply as candidosis, or is it, candidiasis, and the latter as oid-oid disease or Sulzberger-Garbe disease