Everard Home, John Hunter, and cutaneous horns: a historical review

Abstract

A cutaneous horn is a protrusion from the skin made up of cornified material. These horns can be derived from a variety of epidermal lesions, both benign and malignant. This historical article reviews a number of early instances of cutaneous horns, some reported in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Danish anatomist Thomas Bartholin was the first to have a correct theory of the ethiology of these horny growths, and the English surgeons John Hunter and Everard Home confirmed his findings in the late 18th century.