Félix Balzer was a French physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

, specialising in dermatology

Dermatology

Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin and its diseases, a unique specialty with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist takes care of diseases, in the widest sense, and some cosmetic problems of the skin, scalp, hair, and nails....

 and pathology

Pathology

Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....

.

Balzer gave an early description of pseudoxanthoma elasticum

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum , also known as Grönblad–Strandberg syndrome, is a genetic disease that causes fragmentation and mineralization of elastic fibers in some tissues. The most common problems arise in the skin and eyes, and later in blood vessels in the form of premature atherosclerosis...

 in 1884. He used the term "xanthome elastique" but subsequently it was found not to be a form of xanthomatosis. Balzer is also responsible for coining the term "adénomes sébacés" (adenoma sebaceum) to describe the papular facial rash of tuberous sclerosis

Tuberous sclerosis

Tuberous sclerosis or tuberous sclerosis complex is a rare multi-system genetic disease that causes non-malignant tumors to grow in the brain and on other vital organs such as the kidneys, heart, eyes, lungs, and skin. A combination of symptoms may include seizures, developmental delay, behavioral...

. Again, this term proved to be incorrect since the papules were neither adenoma

Adenoma

An adenoma is a benign tumor of glandular origin. Adenomas can grow from many organs including the colon, adrenal glands, pituitary gland, thyroid, prostate, etc. Although these growths are benign, over time they may progress to become malignant, at which point they are called adenocarcinomas...

 nor derived from sebaceous glands.

Between 1880 and 1887, Balzer was a director of the histology laboratory in the Faculty of the hospital Saint Louis. He became a member of the Académie de Médecine in 1908. He was also president of la Société Française de Dermatologie.