A brief review of the "vulgaris" lesions of the skin

Medical students and the trainees in dermatology and pathology have a curiosity about the names, such as, acne vulgaris or verruca vulgaris. The word “vulgaris” sounds like vulgar, commonly meaning crudely indecent, coarse, or obscene. However, the word “vulgar” is derived from the Latin word “vulgaris”, meaning “of or belonging to the common people”. In medical terminology, the word “vulgaris” means common or ordinary. A search through the indexes in Dermatology and Pathology text books revealed seven dermatologic conditions with “vulgaris” in their names. These included very common diseases, such as, acne vulgaris and verruca vulgaris as well as now rarely diagnosed disease, such as, lupus vulgaris. We are briefly reviewing the seven “vulgaris” diseases of the skin.