Sarcoidosis of the skin

The history of our knowledge of sarcoidosis starts with the first descriptions of the skin changes (Chapter 1), and for a long time the disease was regarded as the special concern of dermatologists. Nevertheless, after Schaumann first pointed out in 1914 that lupus pernio and skin sarcoids were part of a generalized disease which might affect other organs without affecting the skin, it gradually became clear that sarcoid infiltrations of the skin occur in only a minority of detected cases of this disease, in some as the presenting or most prominent feature, but in most as part of a complex clinical picture.