Beauty and the Biologic: Artistic Documentation of Scientific Breakthrough in Psoriasis

The making of wax moulages was an exclusive and sought-after art that was primarily used for teaching, but also to document clinical and laboratory research during the first half of the 20th century. Applying the technique of moulage-making to document a case of psoriasis improvement for posterity, a moulage of the trunk of a patient with psoriasis vulgaris was taken prior to treatment with biologics – adalimumab, a TNF-α antagonist – and again 3 month after adalimumab was first given. Our modern moulage shows in the most realistic way the science-driven improvement of psoriasis achievable nowadays with biologics. However, the real clinical picture of the disease is shrouded by showing only one detail of the patient – by accident the one with the best clinical improvement. All available techniques to document skin disease have advantages and limitations and nothing beats seeing live patients.