A reminder that modern medicine sometimes starts with a simple tool.
1885: Unna’s boot. A paste bandage + gentle compression → better healing for VLUs
2025: New guidance from SCAI reinforces what clinicians see every day:
Compression remains the foundation of venous ulcer management
It’s strongly recommended compared with no compression
Sometimes progress is refining not replacing the original insight.
Guideline link: 2025 SCAI Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Chronic Venous Disease – Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions https://lnkd.in/dPSxaWuz
Where do you see the biggest gap today: access, adherence, or correct application?
Short bio
Paul Gerson Unna (1850–1929) was a pioneering Hamburg dermatologist who transformed the field by linking clinical observations with microscopic tissue analysis. Although his medical studies were interrupted by a serious wound sustained in the Franco-Prussian War, he returned to research the histology of the epidermis and later trained in Vienna. By opening a private dermatology clinic and laboratory in Hamburg, he gained the freedom to innovate, leading to the publication of his landmark 1884 textbook, The Histopathology of Skin Diseases. Unna is credited with identifying plasma cells, coining the term “acanthosis nigricans,” and introducing treatments like ichthyol and resorcinol. His most enduring practical legacy is Unna’s boot, a zinc-paste compression dressing still used globally today to treat venous leg ulcers.
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