These images with "extreme" trauma, including an elderly woman with a horn on her head, were taken in the late 19th century in one of the oldest hospitals in the Netherlands, Utrecht University Hospital.
Patients specifically posed for photographs, as the images were later used for documentation. Utrecht University Hospital, now known as University Medical Center Utrecht, was founded in 1636.
These portraits provide a glimpse into the early days of medical photography - when clinical standards were not yet developed and many of the images were more artistic than scientific.
In the photo below on the left is a young girl with a huge mole on the floor of her face. This is the so-called congenital melanocytic nevus. The skin on the mole is very dark, almost black, and covered with a slight downy. The defect is congenital and with age, these moles often greatly increase in size.
Also in the photo is a woman with a cleft lip (right). This is a tear or split in the upper lip or palate that occurs when parts of an infant's face do not join together properly during early development in the womb.
Portrait of a young boy who suffers from Hibernoma. It is a rare benign tumor of brown fat cells that make up about one percent of all fatty tumors. They are often found on the thighs, head and neck, especially in young people and can grow up to 20 cm wide.
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This patient (left) has an injury or developmental anomaly in the elbow of the arm, and another patient (right) is depicted with a large swelling in the back of the head.
A young man suffering from a severe facial tumor (left) and a woman or man with a thyroid disorder (right), locally called "Utretchtse Krop". This disease develops due to iodine deficiency in drinking water and there were many such patients in Utrecht in those years.
An elderly woman (left) is shown with a keratin horn growing out of her scalp. This anomaly may look like a cone, spike, or horn, and vary in size. The anomaly is most common in the elderly and most growths are benign.
On the right is a young man suffering from lordosis. This is a type of congenital deformity of the spine that causes an internal curvature of the spine.
Another patient was photographed with stitches in his nose and a strange structure around his head. Presumably he underwent surgery to reconstruct the nose and probably surgery on the skull.
On the left is a woman with a large abscess on her shoulder. On the right is a man who underwent surgery on his arm, from which a large tumor was removed.
The patient on the left is suffering from Oligodactyly (missing fingers). Another person (right) has an extremely large swelling on the back.
