Dokter Hamerlinck

In Congo, Dr. F.F.V. (Freddy) Hamerlinck became infected with the ‘forest virus’. Despite the dangers and limitations there, he looks back on that period with nostalgia. After working as an ethnic dermatologist in the Reigersbos practice in Amsterdam, he returns to the bush, but in Suriname.

Just like today, in 1969 it was very restless in Congo. Hamerlinck was in a region between two groups that attacked each other. Due to the virtually non-existent communication with Europe, he was not previously aware of these dramas. Yet he thinks back to this period with nostalgia: “If you have lived in the bush for two years, you get some kind of virus. You don’t want to leave and come back again and again. It still appeals to go back to tropical areas and help there.”

Immediately in training

In 1971 Hamerlinck returned to Brussels. A year later, Professor Kint, with whom he had done a chemistry internship in Ghent, alerted him to a position in Amsterdam with Professor Cormane. “I didn’t know Amsterdam at all, but it was something different from the jungle of Congo,” he responds with a sense of understatement. Yet there were similarities between the two places. In the Binnengasthuis, where a research lab for immune-dermatology had to be set up in an attic, there was not even water and electricity. Although Hamerlinck had only gained some research experience in oncology and had hardly any basic facilities at his disposal in the early days, he managed to found a lab, which he headed for seven years. “One assistant after another came there for a year. I thought, “If they can do medicine, I can do it too. Apparently it shouldn’t be that difficult.”

At the age of 32, Hamerlinck decided to study medicine after all. Prof. Cormane, head of the Dermatology department, said at the time: “If you complete the training, you can immediately train as a dermatologist.” This makes Hamerlinck probably the only one in the world who already had his training place before he started studying medicine. A few months after his internship, a training position became available. “Unfortunately, Cormane passed away two weeks before I started training.” In the meantime, the Binnengasthuis had moved to the Academic Medical Center (AMC). So I ended up in a department that no longer had a head. The advantage was that Bos became a professor. He was promoted by me at the time.”
In order to continue his ongoing research into neopterin, which can be used to measure the activity of macrophages, he had to open a practice near the AMC after his training as a dermatologist. That happened in 1991 in Reigersbos. In practice, he saw almost only dark people in the Bijlmer.

Psoriasis of dark skin

Through his 22 years of practical experience, in which he treated almost 70,000 patients, Hamerlinck discovered that the skin of dark people was very different in terms of structure and disease course. However, there was no reference in the world on how to treat skin conditions in pigmented skin. “I had to figure it all out myself and I started writing down my experiences. Then I had the choice: either have my book published or get my PhD first.” He decided to first publish his book on “efflorescences of pigmented skin” in (1998). His thesis on neopterin was published in 1999. He also had a very busy practice.
After completing his PhD, Hamerlinck devoted himself entirely to the clinical side of ethnic dermatology. Last year he published a textbook on this subject. Textbook of Ethnic Dermatology “We have also had success with this in America.”

What is the difference between light and dark skin when it comes to psoriasis? All people with dark skin have low vitamin D levels, Hamerlinck begins to explain. The question is to what extent this plays a role in the development of the most serious forms of psoriasis in these people. In his practice he notices that when people from Suriname, Curaçao or another tropical country come to live in the Netherlands and have a bad family history, they hardly suffer from psoriasis complaints, probably due to exposure to a lot of sunlight and therefore a higher vitamin D level. . When they stay in a colder country, such as the Netherlands, for about five years, these people suddenly develop symptoms of psoriasis. However, the effect of light therapy on these people is extremely disappointing, according to his experience with a commonly used treatment method. All psoriasis patients receive standard vitamin D supplementation from him. Furthermore, Hamerlinck has reasonably good results with local therapies.
What many do not realize is that dark people can also burn. He wants to warn explicitly about this. “It’s horrible what consequences this can have, such as post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation spots. Light therapy can produce horrible images. Especially if a patient reports itching during light therapy, things often go wrong.”

Missionary work

Hamerlinck has not returned to Congo since his two-year stay in his twenties. Although he is regularly asked this, the danger there is too great. Nowadays he spends a lot of time in Suriname. He has a house built near Paramaribo. He hardly takes the time to enjoy his retirement, but continues with his missionary work. I try to provide help at the Ester foundation, where leprosy patients live, and the Claudia-A house where Aids children live. “The practice is my pet, which is difficult for me to part with. The people in Reigersbos ask every day: You’re not leaving here, are you? I still plan to continue with ethnic dermatology in the Netherlands but also in Suriname for a few years.”

Text taken from the magazine: Dermatology News International, June 2013 issue (Dutch magazine)
publisher: Van Zuiden Communications
author: Daniël Dresden, doctor/science journalist